Helina Metaferia is an interdisciplinary artist working across collage, assemblage, video, performance, and social engagement. Her work integrates archives, somatic studies, and dialogical practices, supporting often overlooked narratives that amplify BIPOC/femme bodies.
Metaferia’s solo exhibitions and projects include Museum of African Diaspora, San Francisco, CA (2024 and 2017); Center for Book Arts, New York, NY (2024); RISD Art Museum, Providence, RI (2022-2023); and Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA (2021-2022). Her work was included in the 2023 Sharjah Biennial, United Arab Emirates. Group exhibitions include ICA San Francisco, CA (2023); Frist Art Museum, Nashville, TN (2023); The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, MD (2023); Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit, Detroit, MI (2019); and Modern Art Museum Gebre Kristos Desta Art Center, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (2019). Her work is in the permanent collection of institutions including Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA; KADIST, Paris, France; 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. Recent residencies include MacDowell, Yaddo, Bemis, Recess Art, Project for Empty Space, and Silver Art Residency. Her work has been written about in publications including The New York Times, Financial Times, The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, Artnet News, and The Art Newspaper. Metaferia is an Assistant Professor at Brown University in the Visual Art department, and lives and works in New York City.