I am an interdisciplinary artist working across collage, sculpture, video, performance, and social engagement. Through a hybrid of mediums, I tell overlooked stories of intersectional activism. As a research based artist, my work is informed by archival studies, embodied practices, and relational art. My art practice interrogates complex histories of institutionalized oppression and asks how it informs our personal experiences and interpersonal relationships.
I often use my own body as a medium in my practice, as well as the bodies of participants or collaborators in my community. I am interested in how documentation and relics preserve live art or an event, expanding the lifespan of happenings beyond ephemeral moments and becoming art unto themselves. As an Ethiopian-American, my work draws upon traditional African art sensibilities, where visual art and ritual often intersect, and art objects are infused with an experience or aesthetic that can layer their meaning.
The subjects of my interdisciplinary projects have ranged from advocating for the often overlooked labor of BIPOC femme activists; critiquing bias in art historical cannons that perpetuate myths of Western male exceptionalism; redefining notions of citizenship and belonging as it relates to forced (im)migration; and more. In our trying political climate, my work seeks to reconcile with the complex contradictions of what it means to be an American of recent African descent, and a concerned global citizen.
BIO:
Helina Metaferia is an interdisciplinary artist working across collage, sculpture, video, performance, and social engagement. Her work incorporates archival research and embodied practices, supporting overlooked narratives of intersectional activism.
Metaferia’s solo exhibitions include Museum of African Diaspora, San Francisco, CA (2024-2025); RISD Art Museum, Providence, RI (2022-2023); and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA (2021-2022). Her work was included in the 2023 Sharjah Biennial, United Arab Emirates. Group exhibitions include Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France (2025); Fondazione Merz, Turin, Italy (2025); Frist Art Museum, Nashville, TN (2023); The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, MD (2023); Museum of Contemporary Art, Detroit, MI (2019); and Modern Art Museum Gebre Kristos Desta Art Center, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (2019). Her work is in institutional collections including the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Bronx Museum of the Arts; Philadelphia Museum of Art; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; and the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, New York, NY.
Metaferia received her MFA from Tufts University’s School of the Museum of Fine Arts and attended the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture. She’s held residencies at MacDowell, Yaddo, Bemis Center for Contemporary Art, Recess Art, Project for Empty Space, and Silver Art Residency. Her work has been written about in The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Financial Times, The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, Chicago Sun-Times, Studio Museum in Harlem Magazine, Artnet, Artforum, ArtNews, The Art Newspaper, BOMB Magazine, and Hyperallergic. Metaferia is an Assistant Professor of Visual Art at Brown University and lives and works in New York City.