João Pessoa, PB, Brazil, 1987
Lives and works in Brasília, DF, Brazil

Iris Helena’s research focuses on a critical, philosophical, and poetic investigation of urban landscapes. The artist incorporates the image of the city into the surfaces/supports she chooses to materialize it. Precarious and ordinary supports are often removed from their everyday use and enable the construction/reconstruction of memory linked to risk, instability, and, above all, the desire for erasure.

Among her solo exhibitions, highlights include: “Achados e Perdidos”, Portas Vilaseca, Rio de Janeiro, RJ (2024); “Práticas de Arquivo-Morto,” Caixa Cultural São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil (2019); “Aliança: navegando o mar cor de vinho em demanda de povos de línguas estranhas,” Alfinete Galeria, Brasília, Brazil (2016); and “Marcadores,” Portas Vilaseca Galeria, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (2015).

Recent group exhibitions include: “33º Programa de Exposições,” Centro Cultural São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brazil (2024); “Prêmio Transborda Brasília,” Caixa Cultural de Brasília, DF, Brazil (2023); Bienal de Arte Contemporânea da Paraíba, Galeria Sesc Cabo Branco, João Pessoa, PB, Brazil (2023); “At Memory’s Edge,” The Fundación Pablo Atchugarry, Miami, Florida, USA (2022); “La Fabrique du Paysage,” Galerie Duchamp/Centre d’Art Contemporaine de la Ville d’Yvetot, Yvetot, France (2019); “Espacio Cartográfico/ Imaginário Cartográfico de uma Cidade,” Rincón Projects, Bogotá, Colombia (2018); among others.

The artist has received several awards, including honors at the II Bienal SESC de Arte Contemporânea da Paraíba (2023), Prêmio FOCO Bradesco (2017), PIPA Prize in the Online category (2018), and an Honorable Mention at the II Prêmio EDP Tomie Ohtake (2010), among others. She has also participated in numerous residencies in Brazil and abroad, with notable residencies in Frankfurt, Germany, invited by the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs during the “Brazil Year in Germany” (2013), and the “Vila Sul” Residency at the Goethe Institute in Salvador (2020). More recently, in 2024, she was an artist-in-residence at the Gasworks Program in London, UK.

Her works are part of important collections, such as: Pinacoteca de São Paulo (Brazil), Instituto PIPA (Brazil), Arte Al Límite (Chile), Museu de Arte do Rio – MAR (Brazil), Gilberto Chateaubriand Collection – Museu de Arte Moderna / MAM (Brazil); among others.

She holds a degree in Visual Arts from the Federal University of Paraíba, a master’s degree in Contemporary Poetics and a PhD in Displacements and Spatialities in Contemporary Art from the University of Brasília.