Cassandra Mayela Allen (b. Caracas) is a self-taught artist based in NYC since 2014 after migrating from Venezuela. Her work delves into ideas of identity, migration and belonging, reflecting her personal experiences and engaging with the community through interviews and workshops. She explores textiles' unique storytelling potential, preserving and reimagining memories through material transformation and creative blends of fabric and found materials. While collaboration is vital to her practice, she also produces individual works exploring abstract expressionism through various materials.

Mayela Allen works with mixed media, textiles, installation and social art work. Recent projects and exhibitions include La UNAM (MX),  Olympia (NYC), MOCAD (DT), V1 (CPH). She’s been an artist in residence with Modern Ancient Brown (DT), Pocoapoco (MX), Campo Garzón (UY) and Bolster Arts (NYC). Her work has been featured in The New York Times, Bomb Magazine, Elephant Magazine, American Craft Council and Vogue MX. She has been recently accepted into Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture (2025).