Overview

Helina Metaferia is an interdisciplinary artist working across collage, sculpture, video, performance, and social engagement. Her work incorporates archival research, embodied practices, and dialogical studies, supporting overlooked narratives of intersectional identities.

 

Metaferia’s solo exhibitions include Museum of African Diaspora, San Francisco, CA (2024-2025); 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 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 Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA; Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, OH; Birmingham Museum of Art, Birmingham, AL; and 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, Financial Times, The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, Studio Museum in Harlem Magazine, Artnet, Artforum, and ArtNews. Metaferia is an Assistant Professor at Brown University in the Department of Visual Art, and lives and works in New York City.

 
Portrait by Don Brodie
Select Works
  • Helina Metaferia, Race Card 15, 2024
    Helina Metaferia
    Race Card 15, 2024
  • Helina Metaferia, Headdress 70, 2024
    Helina Metaferia
    Headdress 70, 2024
  • Helina Metaferia, Crown (Nigist), 2025
    Helina Metaferia
    Crown (Nigist), 2025
  • Helina Metaferia, Throne (Zufani), 2025
    Helina Metaferia
    Throne (Zufani), 2025
  • Helina Metaferia, Headdress 56, 2023
    Helina Metaferia
    Headdress 56, 2023
  • Helina Metaferia, Tapestry (The Griot), 2022
    Helina Metaferia
    Tapestry (The Griot), 2022
Video
Exhibitions
Videos
Select Press