Trust the Process: Helina Metaferia
Join us for a virtual lecture by Helina Metaferia, interdisciplinary artist and Hamiltonian Artists alum. Working across collage, sculpture, video, performance, and social engagement, Metaferia’s work draws on archival research, embodied practices, and dialogical methods to foreground overlooked narratives of intersectional identity.
Sharing reflections on pivotal projects, transformative grants and residencies, evolving institutional relationships, and lessons learned through years of navigating the art world, Metaferia will offer a broad view of her studio practice while illuminating the professional pathways that help sustain it. Her lecture will be followed by a brief moderated dialogue and audience Q&A.
This event marks the inaugural session of Trust the Process, our new program series spotlighting mid-career artists.
About the Artist:
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. Her work has been supported by several residencies, including 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, Studio Museum in Harlem Magazine, Artnet, Artforum, ArtNews, BOMB Magazine,and Hyperallergic. Metaferia is an Assistant Professor at Brown University in the Department of Visual Art, and lives and works in New York City.