Episode 193

Photo credit: Tommie Battle

Ep.193 Helina Metaferia is an interdisciplinary artist working across collage, assemblage, video, performance, and social engagement. Her work integrates archives, somatic studies, and dialogical practices, creating overlooked narratives that amplify BIPOC/femme bodies.

Metaferia received her MFA from Tufts University’s School of the Museum of Fine Arts and attended the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture. Recent solo exhibitions and projects include RISD Art Museum (2022-2023); Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA (2021-2022); New York University’s The Gallatin Galleries, New York, NY (2021); Michigan State University’s Scene Metrospace Gallery, East Lansing, MI (2019); and Museum of African Diaspora, San Francisco, CA (2017). Metaferia’s work was included in the Sharjah Biennial in the United Arab Emirates (2023), the Tennessee Triennial through the Frist Art Museum and Fisk University Art Gallery (2023). Her work is in the permanent collection of institutions including Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA; Sharjah Art Foundation, United Arab Emirates; Kadist, San Francisco, CA and Paris, France; and the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, New York, NY.

Metaferia’s work has been supported by several residencies including MacDowell, Yaddo, Bemis Center for Contemporary Art, and MASS MoCA. She is currently a 2021-2023 artist-in-residence at Silver Art Projects at the World Trade Center in New York City. Her work has been written about in publications including The New York Times, Financial Times, The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, Artnet News, The Art Newspaper, and Hyperallergic. Metaferia is an Assistant Professor at Brown University in the Visual Art department, and lives and works in New York City.

Artist https://www.helinametaferia.com/

NYTimes https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/24/arts/things-to-do-this-weekend.html

Artsy Helina Metaferia Honors the Activist Legacies of Black Women across Collage and Performance | Artsy

Artnet News https://news.artnet.com/art-world/how-do-you-judge-the-value-of-social-practice-art-artist-helina-metaferia-developed-metrics-to-determine-if-a-project-is-successful-2181336

Vanity Fair Leisure, Adornment, and Beauty Are Radical Acts in “Resting Our Eyes” | Vanity Fair

The Cut ‘Resting Our Eyes’: 10 Black Artists at ICA San Francisco (thecut.com)

Chicago Tribune 4 female artists mount a Chicago exhibit on climate issues: ‘Activism work is care work’ – Chicago Tribune

Sugarcane Magazine Ritual and Remembrance in Sharjah Biennial 15 – Sugarcane Magazine ™| Black Art Magazine

Interior Design Magazine Artist Helina Metaferia Celebrates Black Women Activists in Two Solo Shows – Interior Design

The Art Newspaper https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2021/06/16/black-artists-and-performers-take-over-fort-greene-park-for-juneteenth-jubilee

Financial Times ( First) https://www.ft.com/content/9b75fdcd-9f1a-4c3f-ae70-b1140fc9cdad

Financial Times (Second) https://www.ft.com/content/e8030f71-2925-4fbb-8e0a-96d6ce1cf774