Pigeons are our oldest companion species. Since we first domesticated them more than 10.000 years ago pigeons have been considered symbols of peace, war heroes, hunted pests, and sacred messengers. Once our technological advancements substituted the pigeon´s service, we discarded them. Now the pigeon roams our streets alongside us, living in and off our dirt – depending on our infrastructures. The pigeon´s ambiguity reflects the seemingly contradicting ways in which we share spaces - with each other and other species.

The Great Misunderstanding is the umbrella under which Helena conducts her interdisciplinary artistic research. Through the lens of the pigeon, she researches the ambigious ways in which we share urban spaces in relation to each other, other species, and our inanimate environment.

Helena is an interdisciplinary artist and researcher. Her work spans large-scale multimedia installations, performance, painting, and objects/ sculptures. Most recently, Helena intervenes with her flock of wax-cast pigeons to invite open-ended questioning of the ambiguous ways in which we share (urban) spaces.

Through her work, Helena seeks to capture the double standards and the contradiction of how we relate to pigeons (other species), and each other – how we pick and choose who has access to which space and under which circumstances.

Born in UK, Helena grew up in Vienna, Austria. She is based between the Netherlands and Vienna. Helena is a recent graduate of interdisciplinary Arts (iArts) at the Maastricht Institute of Arts.