MARÍA ELENA POMBO
I work through open-ended and interconnected projects that investigate real and speculative pasts, presents, and futures through installations, sculptures, videos, and moments that play with site-specificity, ephemerality, and participation.
My practice is centered around Earth-matter holding historical and contemporary importance across different cultures and times, which I often gather through collaborations. From avocado-seeds gathered by restaurant-workers, onion-skins gathered by farmers, and more. A framework to engage heterogeneous publics into co-creating contemporary rituals based on cooperation.
Applying both ancient and emerging technologies that draw inspiration from geological processes, I re-contextualize and transform these materials as a metaphor for the need of new ways to understand the world.
My work is based both on embodied knowledge acquired through closely working with materials and research that draws from science, history, nature, mythology, language, and conversations.
BIOGRAPHY
María-Elena Pombo was born in Caracas (Venezuela) and is based in NYC (USA).
She is currently an artist in residency at Wave Hill’s Winter Workspace Program and a member of NEW INC, The New Museum’s incubator for art, design & technology in its Creative Science Track, which focuses on employing scientific inquiry to advance creativity and storytelling.
She was recently fellow at the Bronx’s Museum AIM Program and resident at Yaddo, and Governor’s Island, and more.
Pombo won the 2021 London Design Biennale’s Theme Medal, and has received grants from New York Foundation for the Arts, Queens Council on the Arts, New York Restoration Project, and more.
Her work has been exhibited at Somerset House (London), Mana Contemporary (Jersey City), A/D/O (Brooklyn), SXSW (Austin), Yamamoto-Seika (Osaka), Fabbrica del Vapore (Milan), and more across the USA, Europe, and Japan.
Pombo’s work has been featured in The New York Times, The Slowdown, Metal Magazine, i-D Italia, Vogue México, Forbes, and the book ‘True Colors: World Masters of Natural Dyes”.
She is faculty at Parsons School of Design, teaching and developing curriculum for studio classes with a focus on research and experimentation. Pombo was instructor at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden and the New York Botanical Garden, where she designed and taught classes on natural dyes through a decolonial and non-extractivist lens.
Tejiendo el Auyán-Tepui, 2025// Arenisca de Canaimal, Extracto de Alga Marrón, Glicerina // 25cm x 25cm x 200cm
Process of "Tejiendo la Anemoia" at the artist's studio.
"Tejiendo la Anemoia" at the artist's studio.
Sample water for "Tejiendo la Anemoia".
Process of "Tejiendo la Anemoia" at the artist's studio.
Maria Elena at Zona Maco Art Fair Booth 2025. Picture by Silvana Trevale.
Impressions of "Telurismos a Tres Tiempos (They Called it Mena’)" and "Welcome to La Rentrada" exhibited at our space in Trafalgar Street in Barcelona.
Maria Elena's works alongside Luis Renteria at Zona Maco Art Fair Booth 2025. Picture by Silvana Trevale.
Impressions of "Pinturas de Castas Almidonoides" a 7 pannels sculpture part of the "Unseen Bodies" exhibition at our gallery.
"Telurismos a Tres Tiempos" is a sculpture made from petroleum, silk, and cornstarch. It seeks to explore and expand upon Venezuela’s petro-identity across timelines. From imaginary universes, in which Venezuela developed a thriving silk industry. To Popol Vuh derivations, albeit ones that look into the future and summon Michael Pollan’s processed corn. And reclaiming petroleum as a telluric, non-abstract entity. By embracing these real and imaginary realities, opening the door to true re-imaginations of post-petroleum futures in Venezuela and beyond.
Impressions of "Pinturas de Castas Almidonoides" a 7 pannels sculpture part of the "Unseen Bodies" exhibition at our gallery.
Impressions of "Telurismos a Tres Tiempos (They Called it Mena’)" exhibited at our space in Trafalgar Street in Barcelona.
Pintura de Castas Almidonoides (Starches of Abya Yala) an installation that is part of the ongoing project Starches of Abya Yala. It transforms and recontextualizes these plants into 7 pieces that use their starches. As such, they are meant to change over time, with death and re-birth as possibilities.
Trinidad Bién. Sculpture done during a residency in Italy. The artist set out to explore corn, chestnuts, and iron, 3 important elements of the town's collective consciousness as a trinity that would provoke conversations about identity creation in the post-1492 world.
Trinidad Bién at Palazzo Simoni Fè (Bienno, Italy) part of Borgo degli Artisti Artist Residency
‘2021+’ is an interactive installation constituted by 2,021 bricks made from avocado seeds. ‘2021+’ was shown during the 2021 London Design Biennale at Somerset House, as part of Pombo’s project ‘La Rentrada,’ which went on to win the Theme Medal.
Vestigios de La Fultonera, 3-part installation part of La Fultonera. New Museum’s NEW INC DEMO 2023
Starches of Abya Yala, ‘Abya Yala’ was the word used by the Kuna people of present-day Panama and Colombia to refer to their territory. Since the 1970s it has been recommended by various Indigenous groups as a decolonial term for the American continent. Starches of Abya Yala is an ongoing research project using corn, cassava, and potatoes as a starting point to understand the past, present, and future of this territory and the modern world at large.
Onoto is Home, Public art participatory installation developed for New York Textile Month with support from a grant from Queens Council on the Arts.
Tires gifted by a closing bike-repair shop owned by a Dominican family covered in fabrics dyed with seeds from onoto (achiote), an important plant in Latin American collective consciousness.
CV
BIENNIAL & MUSEUM EXHIBITIONS
2025 Que veux-tu Brique?, Grand Hornu, Boussu, Belgium
2024 Bronx Calling: The Sixth AIM Biennial, Bronx Museum of Arts, Bronx, USA
2021 Resonance, London Design Biennale, Somerset House, London, UK (Theme Medal)
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2025 to Taima or not to Taima, Galería ABRA, Caracas, Venezuela
2023 Trinidad Bién, Palazzo Simoni Fè, Bienno, Italy
2019 Rosa Terráqueo, Yamamoto-Seika, Osaka, Japan
PUBLIC ART & ACTIONS
2025 Fuerte Quebracho, New York Textile Month, Queens, USA (forthcoming September 2025)
2024 K'itha Tarwi en el Taller Mecánico, F&T Auto Repair Shop, Brooklyn, USA
2023 Onoto Is Home, Highland Park, Queens, USA
2022 2021+, Cigar Factory, NYC, USA
2021 Entrelazados 3D Et Al., New York Textile Month, Brooklyn, USA
SELECTED RESIDENCIES AND FELLOWSHIPS
2025 Smack Mellon, Artist Studio Program, Brooklyn, USA (forthcoming September 2025)
2025 Woodward Residency, Artist in Residency, Queens, USA
2024 Yaddo, Louise Bourgeois Residency Fellow, Saratoga Springs, USA
2024Wave Hill Winter Workspace, Artist in Residency, Bronx, USA
2024Lower Manhattan Cultural Council Arts Center, Artist in Residency, Governors Island, NY
2023 The Bronx Museum, AIM Fellow, Bronx, USA
2023 New Museum, NEW INC Y10 Member, NYC, USA
2023 Curatorial Program for Research, Artist in Residency, Brooklyn, USA
2023 Borgo degli Artisti, Artist in Residency, Bienno, Italy
2023 New York Latin American Art Triennial, Artist in Residency, Governors Island, NYC, USA
2022 New Museum, NEW INC Y9 Member, NYC, USA
2016 La Guarimba Film Festival, Artist in Residency, Amantea, Italy
SELECTED GRANTS
2025 Queens Arts Fund, New Work Grant, Queens, USA
2024 Brooklyn Arts Council, Brooklyn Arts Fund, Brooklyn, USA
2024 Brooklyn Arts Council, The Charlene Victor & Ella J. Weiss Cultural Entrepreneur Fund, Brooklyn, USA
2024Foundation for Contemporary Arts, Emergency Grant, NYC, USA
2023 Queens Arts Fund, New Work Grant, Queens, USA
2021 New York Foundation for the Arts, City Artists Corps Grants, New York City, USA
2019 National Onion Association, Artist Grant, Colorado, USA
2018 New York Restoration Project, Artist Grant, New York City, USA
SELECTED AWARDS
2024 24º Salón Jóvenes con FIA, Special Mention, Caracas, Venezuela
2023 SaloneSatellite, Róng Design Award, Milan, Italy
2023Dezeen Awards, Emerging Design Studio Award Shortlist, London, UK
2021 London Design Biennale, Theme Medal, London, UK
SELECTED COLLECTIONS
Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, USA
Palazzo Simoni Fè, Bienno, Italy
Jan van Eyck Academie Future Materials Bank, Maastricht, Netherlands
Material ConneXion, New York City, USA
PUBLIC ART & ACTIONS
2020 Entrelazado en la Fábrica de Concreto, Advanced Transit Mix Corp., Brooklyn, USA
2020 Escalera de Yuca, Transit Mix Corp., Brooklyn, USA
2018 Rosa Terráqueo, A/D/O, Brooklyn, USA
2017 Intrecciamo nella Grotta, La Guarimba Film Festival, Amantea, Italy
TWO AND THREE PERSON EXHIBITIONS
2026 TBD, Sorondo Projects, Barcelona, Spain (with artist Angyvir Padilla) (forthcoming September 2026)
2025 Traces of Time. The Persistence of Matter, ARTBO, Bogotá, Colombia (with artist Armando Mesías)
2025 La Memoria de la Tierra, arteba, Buenos Aires, Argentina (with artist Antonela Aiassa)
2025 The Weight of Identity, Zona MACO Art Fair, Mexico City, Mexico (with artists Suwon Lee and Luis Rentería)
2024 Symbols of Identity, Sorondo Projects at Blackship Gallery, Miami, USA (with artist Silvana Trevale)
2024 Hechizos en Emergencia, Mimo, Brooklyn, USA (with artists Natalia Mejía Murillo and Renata Del Riego)
2024 Unseen Bodies, Sorondo Projects, Barcelona, Spain (with artists Suwon Lee and Nikolay Morgunov)
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2025 Unbound Realms: Traversing Worlds, Breaking Borders, FABRIKCulture, Hégenheim, France
2025 Industrial Dry, Jack Barret Gallery, NYC, USA
2025 Clipper Cuts, Brussels Art Week OFF Programme, Brussels, Belgium
2025 ReThink!, Kvadrat, NYC, USA
2024 Neo-Contemporánea. Rupturas y filiaciones, UCAB, Caracas, Venezuela
2024 ReThink!, 3 Days of Design, Copenhagen, Denmark
2024 Florecemos en un Abismo, Sorondo Projects, Barcelona, Spain
2024 And Many Others Would Follow, Meca Art Fair Satellite, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
2023 Nuevo País de la Artesanía, Ciudad Banesco, Caracas, Venezuela
2023 Building the (im)possible: Process, Progress, Practice, Salone Satellite, Milan, Italy (Special Mention)
2023 Mostra Mercato di Bienno, Palazzo Simoni Fè, Bienno, Italy
2023 Monumento, NYLAAT at Governors Island, NYC, USA
2023 NEW INC’s Demo2023, South Street Seaport, New York City, USA
2023 Public Spaces Open Studios 2023, The Clemente, New York, USA
2022 Microbial Chorale, New Inc X Serpentine Synthetic Ecologies Lab, Ace Hotel Brooklyn, Brooklyn, USA
2022 ReA! Art Fair, Fabbrica del Vapore, Milan, Italy
2022 Tectonic Threads, Monira Foundation at Mana Contemporary, Jersey City, USA
2022 Nafas, The Invisible Dog, Brooklyn, USA
2022 Repopulations New Horizons, Noosphere Arts, Brooklyn, USA
2022 Biopolimérica, Galería Universitaria ITESO, Guadalajara, México
2021 Materialistic, Mana Contemporary, Jersey City, USA
2021 Industrious Bodies, Urban Zen, New York City, USA
2019 Onion Society: Class of 2019, Issue 00, Brooklyn, USA
2019 Heirloom, Ground Floor Gallery, Brooklyn, USA