MARÍA ELENA POMBO
María-Elena Pombo (b. Caracas, Venezuela) is an artist and researcher based in NYC.
She is artist in residence at Smack Mellon’s Artist Studio Program and has participated in residencies and fellowships at Yaddo, Wave Hill, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, the Bronx Museum, and NEW INC, The New Museum’s cultural incubator.
Her work is part of the permanent collection of the Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago, USA), Jan van Eyck Academie Future Materials Bank (Maastricht, Netherlands), Palazzo Simoni Fè (Bienno, Italy), among others. Her work has been exhibited at MoMA PS1 (NYC, USA), Bronx Museum of the Arts (NYC, USA), Somerset House (London, England), Grand Hornu Museum (Hornu, Belgium), Zona Maco (Mexico City, Mexico), arteba (Buenos Aires, Argentina), ARTBO (Bogota, Colombia), Jack Barret Gallery (NYC, USA), and more across the USA, Europe, Japan and Latin America. She has also developed site-responsive public art works in concrete factories, mechanic shops, and abandoned military structures across New York City.
She received the 2021 London Design Biennale’s Theme Medal, and has been awarded grants from Foundation for Contemporary Arts, New York Foundation for the Arts, Brooklyn Arts Council, Queens Council on the Arts, New York Restoration Project, and more.
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. She has given talks about her work at institutions such as the Venice Architecture Biennale, The Met Cloisters, Bard Prison Initiative, Queens Museum, Artistic Noise, among others.
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
SELECTED RESIDENCIES AND FELLOWSHIPS
2026 Textile Arts Center, Work In Progress Residency, NYC, USA (forthcoming 2026)
2026 gmtc, Artist in Residency, New York City, USA (forthcoming 2026)
2025-26 Smack Mellon, Artist Studio Program, NYC, USA
2025 Woodward Residency, Artist in Residency, NYC, USA
2024 Yaddo, Artist in Residency, Saratoga Springs, USA
2024 Wave Hill Winter Workspace, Artist in Residency, Bronx, USA
2024 Lower Manhattan Cultural Council Arts Center, Artist in Residency, Governors Island, NY
2023 The Bronx Museum, AIM Fellow, Bronx, 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
2022-24 New Museum, NEW INC Creative Sciences Member, NYC, USA
2016 La Guarimba Film Festival, Artist in Residency, Amantea, Italy
SELECTED GRANTS & AWARDS
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
2024 Foundation for Contemporary Arts, Emergency Grant, NYC, USA
2024 Yaddo, The Louise Bourgeois Residency Fellow, Saratoga Springs, USA
2024 24º Salón Jóvenes con FIA, Special Mention, Caracas, Venezuela
2023 Queens Arts Fund, New Work Grant, Queens, USA
2023 SaloneSatellite, Róng Design Award, Milan, Italy
2022 Dezeen Awards, Emerging Design Studio Award Shortlist, London, UK
2021 London Design Biennale, Theme Medal, London, UK
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
PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, USA
Palazzo Simoni Fè, Bienno, Italy
Jan van Eyck Academie Future Materials Bank, Maastricht, Netherlands
BIENNIAL & MUSEUM EXHIBITIONS
2026 Greater New York 2026, MoMA PS1, NYC, USA (forthcoming April 2026)
2026 Future Schools, National Academy of Design, NYC, USA (forthcoming May 2026)
2026 Bricks Reloaded, Gewerbemuseum Winterthur, Winterthur, Switzerland (forthcoming June 2026)
2025 Que veux-tu Brique?, Grand Hornu Museum, 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, Fort Tilden, Queens, USA
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
2020 Entrelazado en la Fábrica de Concreto, Advanced Transit Mix Corp., Brooklyn, USA
2020 Escalera de Yuca, Transit Mix Corp., Brooklyn, USA
2019 Onion Society, La Guarimba Film Festival, Amantea, Italy
2018 Rosa Terráqueo, A/D/O, Brooklyn, USA
2017 Intrecciamo nella Grotta, La Guarimba Film Festival, Amantea, Italy
TWO & THREE PERSON EXHIBITIONS
2026 TBD, Liste Art Fair (w/Sorondo Projects), Basel, Switzerland (w/artist Nikolai Morgunov) (coming June 2026)
2026 TBD, Sorondo Projects, Barcelona, Spain (w/artist Miguel Braceli) (forthcoming September 2026)
2025 The Persistence of Matter, ARTBO (w/Sorondo Projects), Bogotá, Colombia (w/artist Armando Mesías)
2025 La Memoria de la Tierra, arteba (w/Sorondo Projects), Buenos Aires, Argentina (w/artist Antonella Aiassa)
2025 The Weight of Identity, Zona MACO (w/Sorondo Projects), Mexico City, Mexico (w/Suwon Lee & Luis Rentería)
2024 Symbols of Identity, Sorondo Projects at Blackship Gallery, Miami, USA (w/artist Silvana Trevale)
2024Hechizos en Emergencia, Mimo, Brooklyn, USA (w/artists Natalia Mejía Murillo & Renata Del Riego)
2024 Unseen Bodies, Sorondo Projects, Barcelona, Spain (w/artists Suwon Lee & Nikolai Morgunov)
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS & SCREENINGS
2025 City Screen Loop, Sorondo Projects, Barcelona, Spain
2025 Textiles on Film, Millenium Film Workshop, NYC, USA
2025 Industrial Dry, Jack Barret Gallery, NYC, USA
2025 Clipper Cuts, Brussels Art Week OFF Programme, Brussels, Belgium
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
EDUCATION
2021 Diploma, Venezuelan History & Venezuelan Art, Universidad Metropolitana, Caracas, Venezuela (Online)
2013 AAS, Fashion Design, Parsons School of Design, NYC, USA
2011 Engineering Degree, Industrial Engineering, Universidad Simón Bolívar, Caracas, Venezuela
2010 Exchange Student, Industrial Engineering, Institut National des Sciences Appliqués de Lyon, Lyon, France
INSTITUTIONAL TEACHING
2019 - Parsons School of Design, Part-Time Faculty, New York City, USA
2018 - 20 Brooklyn Botanic Garden, Art Department, Instructor, Brooklyn, USA
2018 - 19 New York Botanical Garden, Art Department, Instructor, New York City, USA
SELECTED TALKS
2025 New York University, Tisch School of the Arts, Artist Talk, NYC, USA
2025 The Met Cloisters, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Artist Talk, NYC, USA
2025 Bard Microcollege at Brooklyn Public Library, Artist Talk, NYC, USA
2024 University of Southern California, School of Architecture, Artist Talk, Los Angeles, USA (Online)
2024 Tráfico Visual, Artist Talk, Caracas, Venezuela (Online)
2024 Bronx Museum of the Arts, Artist Talk, Bronx, USA
2024 Eco Art Space, Artist Talk, Santa Fe, USA (Online)
2023 Blessed Foundation, Artist Talk, London, England
2023 Venice Architecture Biennale, Foodscapes: Spanish Pavilion, Artist Talk, Venice, Italy
2023 New Museum, NEW INC’S Demo, Artist Talk, New York City, USA
2023 Rhode Island School of Design, Nature Culture Sustainability Studies, Artist Talk, Providence, USA (Online)
2023 Botanical Colors, Artist Talk, Seattle, USA (Online)
2022 Universidad Católica Andrés Bello, Academia de la Moda, Guest Lecturer, Caracas, Venezuela (Online)
2021 London Design Biennale, Artist Talk, panel Spoon Archaeology & Avocado Seed Economics, London, UK
2021 Instituto Cervantes, Artist Talk, part of panel Diseño: Shaping the World in Spanish, London, UK
2021 Canning House, Artist Talk, part of panel Designing a Better Latin America, London, UK
2020 LCI Monterrey, School of Fashion, Artist Talk, Monterrey, México (Online)
2019 New York Textile Month, Parsons School of Design, Artist Talk, New York City, USA
2019 Parsons School of Design, MFA Textiles Program, Artist Talk, New York City, USA
2019 La Guarimba Film Festival, Natural Dyes Workshop, Amantea, Italy
2018 Fashion Institute of Technology, School of Textiles, Artist Talk, New York City, USA
2018 International Fashion Academy, School of Communications, Artist Talk, Paris, France (Online)
2017 Plat Institute, part of panel Foodture: Disruptive Innovation in Food Design & Sustainability, Barcelona, Spain