Helia Pouyanfar is a conceptual artist whose work investigates the permanently transient state of the refugee body and its negotiation and reconciliation with Place. Her sculptural and photographic work manipulate and contort architectural objects in an attempt to recontextualize architecture as the poetry of the nomad, narrating the idea of Passage and the relationship between liminal spaces and transit.
Pouyanfar received her B.A. in Art Practice from the University of California, Berkeley in 2019 and her MFA in Studio Art from the University of California, Davis in 2022.
Her work has been exhibited at Manetti Shrem Museum, Skirball Cultural Center, Root Division, Southern Exposure, Worth Ryder Art Gallery, Axis Gallery, and Plaxall Gallery. She is the recipient of 2021 Margrit Mondavi Graduate Fellowships and received the Certificate of Excellence in Sculpture from UC Berkeley.
She currently maintains an art studio practice in the Bay Area.