Program Details
Photo courtesy of Juliana Yamada.
The Willing
Friday, March 28 | 12:00–1:00p.m. | Libbey Court
*This performance will be recorded and later edited by the artist, Helina Metaferia, with the final video becoming a part of the Toledo Museum of Art’s collection as a significant work of performance art. Attendees will not only witness performance art in the making but also have the opportunity to be part of it. By registering for this event, audience members consent to being filmed, and select moments of the performance may include direct engagement with the artist and her collaborators. A consent form will be provided at registration, ensuring that all participants are informed and comfortable with the interactive nature of this extraordinary experience.*
The Willing is a live performance that activates artist Helina Metaferia’s sculpture, Crown (Taytu), acquired by the Toledo Museum of Art in 2024. Each iteration of The Willing is uniquely choreographed in response to its setting, and Metaferia has created this performance specifically for TMA. Through song, movement, and spoken word, she and her collaborator, Detroit based singer Yosthena Aynalem, will enliven the museum’s galleries, engaging with the African, Egyptian, and Contemporary art collections to evoke a deep lineage of activism and resistance to life.
Blending embodied ritual with archival storytelling, The Willing explores how art objects serve as vessels of history and collective memory. The activation of Crown (Taytu) draws on Ethiopian, regal adornment as a symbol of empowerment, confronting the systemic and institutionalized oppression of Black women’s bodies.
Previously performed at KADIST, the Museum of the African Diaspora, and the 2023 Sharjah Biennial, The Willing now comes to TMA as an evocative experience that transforms the museum into a site of reflection and resilience. Join us for this one-time performance, where art, history, and activism come to life.
About Helina Metaferia
Helina Metaferia is an interdisciplinary artist working across collage, assemblage, video, performance, and social engagement. Her work incorporates archival research, embodied practices, and dialogical studies, supporting often overlooked narratives of intersectional identities.
Metaferia’s solo exhibitions and projects include Museum of African Diaspora, San Francisco, CA (2024-2025); RISD Art Museum, Providence, RI (2022-2023); and Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA (2021-2022). Her work was included in the 2023 Sharjah Biennial, United Arab Emirates. Group exhibitions include Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France (2025); Blaffer Museum of Art, Houston, TX (2024); Frist Art Museum, Nashville, TN (2023); The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, MD (2023); and Modern Art Museum Gebre Kristos Desta Art Center, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (2019). Her work is in institutional collections including Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA; and the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, New York, NY.
Metaferia received her MFA from Tufts University’s School of the Museum of Fine Arts and attended the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture. She’s held residencies at MacDowell, Yaddo, Bemis Center for Contemporary Art, Recess Art, Project for Empty Space, and Silver Art Residency. Her work has been written about in The New York Times, Financial Times, The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, Studio Museum in Harlem Magazine, Artforum and ArtNews. Metaferia is an Assistant Professor at Brown University in the Department of Visual Art, and lives and works in New York City.