Investigate how histories of protest inform our present day moment and the powerful yet often overlooked role that BIPOC women (both cis and trans) play, in this performance art workshop led by artist Helina Metaferia.

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Designed for women-identifying BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) who live in the Bay Area, Metaferia’s project has been ongoing since 2018, and has had multiple presentations nationally and internationally.

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In this workshop, Metaferia will lead the group through a series of writing, mindfulness, and somatic and performance exercises based on histories of social change movements. Participants will explore how institutionalized and systemic trauma gets stored in the body, and learn creative and tangible tools for self-care and communal care as methods for sustainability.

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This workshop is held as a collaboration between Helina Metaferia and three Bay Area institutions: Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, Museum of African Diaspora, and the Bolinas Museum. Based on this preparatory workshop, Metaferia will create a presentation of art across the four venues in October 2024, coinciding with the 2024 national presidential election. Participants in this workshop have the option to volunteer to be photographed on the same day of the workshop, for a series of collages that Metaferia will create that will combine archives of historical liberation movements with the images of workshop participants.

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Register by Tuesday, January 30, 2024 as space is limited. Lunch will be provided during the workshop. Please note that all participants will need to sign an image release waiver. This workshop will be held at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, 701 Mission Street, SF.

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The workshop is for adults 18 years and older, though minors 12 years and older can attend if accompanied by a parent or with a parental waiver form.

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Helina Metaferia is an interdisciplinary artist working across performance, video, installation, collage, and social practice. 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 include Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA; RISD Art Museum, Providence, RI; New York University’s The Gallatin Galleries, New York, NY; and Museum of African Diaspora, San Francisco, CA. Her art was featured in the 2023 Sharjah Biennial in the United Arab Emirates. Metaferia’s work is in the permanent collection of institutions including Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA; Schomburg Center for Research on Black Culture, New York, NY; and Kadist, San Francisco, CA and Paris, France. Her work has been written about in publications including The New York Times, The Washington Post, San Francisco Chronicle, The Boston Globe, The Financial Times, Artnet News, Hyperallergic, and The Art Newspaper. Metaferia is an Assistant Professor in the Visual Art department at Brown University, and lives and works in New York, NY.

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This workshop is presented in partnership with Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, the Bolinas Museum, and Museum of the African Diaspora.