Mónica Mayer, born in 1954, studied visual arts in Mexico City and her career includes over 100 group exhibitions across Mexico, the U.S., and Europe, with notable solo shows at various prestigious venues. Mayer is renowned for her contributions to performance art and co-founding Polvo de Gallina Negra, Mexico's first feminist art group, in 1983, and Tlacuilas y Retrateras, another feminist art collective and published numerous articles in El Universal

Monica's exhibitions include Casa del Lago (1977), en el Museo Carrillo Gil (1987), Lourdes Chumacero gallery (1990), Pino Suárez subway station (1990), Auditorio subway station (1993), The National Gallery in Kingston, Jamaica (1996), Centro Cultural Candido Mendes in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (1997), El Colegio de Arquitectos in Pichinche, Ecuador (1997), the artists run gallery Pinto mi Raya (1989, 1992), the Trotsky Museum (1999), the Centro Cultural San Angel (1999) in México D.F., La Masmédula Galería (1999), Jardín de las Esculturas, Xalapa, Ver (1993). In 1983 she formed Polvo de Gallina Negra, the first feminist art group in Mexico with Maris Bustamante.

She has published several books—most notably Rosa chillante: Mujeres y performance en México (2004)—and multiple essays, both in Mexico and abroad, and has contributed to such journals as Poliéster, Curare, Debate Feminista, n.paradoxa, and Performance Research and to books, including Perform, Repeat, Record: Live Art in History (2012).