Born in Los Angeles, USA in the ‘70s, Helena grew up between Portugal, France and the UK. She is currently living in Paris, France. Helena is a self-taught artist with a scientific background. Her curiosity in understanding life’s form-function relationships led her to study biology and earn a Ph.D. in plant science. Having spent most of her formative years in Portugal, a country whose geography, history, and soul are deeply connected with the Atlantic Ocean, the sea is a major influence and a recurring presence in her work. She creates stories, visual poems made up of bits and pieces gathered here and there. Helena’s work is grounded in the natural world, materializing the beauty of the intangible and blurring the lines that separate reality, dream, myth, imagination, and the shadows within.
In her artistic practice Helena uses various media such as photography, cyanotype, watercolor, collage, linocut, clay, ceramics and also, words.
Artist member of ADAGP for copyright management.
E d u c a t i o n
2000 ~ PhD in Plant Science, Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris, France. 1995 ~ Bsc in Biology, University of Lisbon, Portugal.
E x h i b i t i o n s
2025 ~
Adrift in Japan | Solo show | (upcoming) | Naoshima, Japan
2024 ~
Plankton and plastic: life and menace in the ocean | Two women exhibit | Journée Climat, Biodiversité et Systèmes Complexes, Fête de la Science | ISCPIF/CNRS | Le Totem, 5-11 Octobre | Paris, France
Red Dot exhibit| Eaux des mers, eaux des cieux : c’est aussi une affaire de forêts ! | Journée Climat, biodiversité et systèmes complexes | ISCPIF | Le Totem, 5 October, 2024 | Paris, France
2023 ~
ARTEX, Biennale Arts & Science ISCPIF/CNRS | Exhibition of Adrift, portraits of eternity in an ever changing planet | VIVERE/MARE | Le Totem, Paris, France | 13 October.
Ecole normale supérieure, Paris, France | Individual exhibition with works from Adrift, portraits of eternity in an ever changing planet | 8 October.
Salon des Beaux Arts | Section Naturaliste with four works from the series Adrift, portraits of eternity in an ever changing planet | Paris, France | 14-18 September.
2022 ~
Ocean forests (Forêts de la mer), two women exhibition | Roscoff, Brittany, France | 4-9 October.
C o l l e c t i o n s
Private collections in Argentina, Czech Republic, France, Japan, Portugal, Spain, UK and the USA.
A r t & S c i e n c e T a l k s
2024 ~
Art & Science performative conference | Plankton and plastic: life and menace in the ocean | Fête de la Science | ISCPIF/CNRS | Le Totem, 11 October | Paris, France
Round Table | Biodiversité Marine | Journée Océan, Climat et Biodiversité | Institut des Systèmes Complexes ISCPIF/CNRS | Le Totem, October 5, 2024 | Paris, France
Invited seminar | Shedding light on the noncoding transcriptomes of plankton | Kwansei Gakuin University, June 12, 2024 | Sanda, Japan
2023 ~
Art & Science performative conference with Giulia Grossmann, Christian Sardet, Alice Barbaza and Pedro Junger, Festival Ovni 2023 | Marine Horizons | Nice, France, 19 November 2023.
Ambulatory talk at ARTEX 2023, Biennale Art & Sciences, Institut des Systemes Complexes ISCPIF/CNRS | Adrift and the dark side of plankton genomes | Le Totem | Paris, France, 13 October 2023.
Conference at ARTEX 2023, Biennale Art & Sciences, Institut des Systemes Complexes ISCPIF/CNRS | Plankton and the Tara expeditions | Le Totem | Paris, France, 13 October 2023.
2022 ~
Invited talk at the Centro de Investigaciones del Mar y la Atmósfera, UBA-CONICET | The art of science and the science of art | Buenos Aires, Argentina, 19 December, 2022.
Invited plenary speaker at the Young Scientists Days “Art & Science” | The art of science and the science of art | Roscoff, France, 3 November, 2022.