Maria Helena Toscano is a Venezuelan-Colombian multidisciplinary artist, researcher, and designer whose practice is rooted in the ecological and political contexts of Latin America, both contemporary and historical, and shaped by her lived experience as an ever-present immigrant navigating multiple geographies. Working across ritual, video, performance, installation, sound, sculpture, and mixed media, Toscano investigates extractivism, migration, displacement, and cognitive justice. Her projects emphasize experimental processes activated by sound and informed by research, metaphor, and her immediate surroundings. She engages with the contrasts between urban landscapes, nature, bodies, and histories, treating color, echo, and rhythm as active fields of memory and transformation.
For Toscano, BONDING operates as a guiding methodology—material, ecological, energetic, and molecular—as a way of rebuilding and strengthening her relationship with nature. Through this, her work functions as a mechanism for healing loss, illuminating and dissecting the contemporary Latina experience while opening space for other worlds. Influenced by Latin American thinkers such as Gloria Anzaldúa, Walter Mignolo, and Davi Kopenawa, Toscano engages with decolonial and border thinking, mestiza consciousness, epistemodiversity, and ancestral cosmologies. She examines the coloniality of knowledge and the uprooting of beliefs, memories, and cultural extractions buried in the soil. Her practice connects experimental craft practices with speculative futures, exploring sonic memory, reconfigured territories, and new forms of offering.
Toscano often works with diasporic and discarded materials, selected for their conceptual resonance and geographical footprint. Through reconfiguration, her sculptural and installation work exposes the asymmetries of global circulation and the choreography of extraction and commodification. By reactivating materials deemed obsolete, she resists the logic of disposability and creates openings for reflection on consumption, value, and offering. Her practice embraces plant-thinking methodologies—even in relation to inanimate matter—and incorporates both offerings as material language and places of transit between the visible and invisible.
For new projects, ideas, and inquiries, please get in touch. mhtoscano@gmail.com For new projects, ideas, and inquiries, please get in touch. mhtoscano@gmail.com
Maria Helena Toscano
(b. 1987) Colombia
Lives and works in London and Berlin
Education
2025 Modular Synthesis for Live Performance and Composition, Berlin School of Sound, Berlin, DE
2024 MA Contemporary Art Practice, Royal College of Art, London, UK
2023 Graduade Diploma in Fine Art, Royal College of Art, London, UK
2012 MA Media and Audiovisual Production , Aalborg University Esbjerg & Hochschule Ostwestfalen-Lippe DK, DE
2007 BA Communication Design, Instituto de Diseño de Caracas, Caracas, VE
Exhibitions
2025 14th Art Auction, Weserhalle, Berlin, DE
2025 THE SIGNAL. THE NOISE, Greatorex Street, London, UK
2025 Uprooted: Ghosts & the Bleaching of Roots, Ventana Project, U8 Gesundbrunnen, Berlin, DE
2025 Ambient Fields, The Goodroom, Berlin, DE
2025 OUTBOUND, Galeria Objects, London, UK
2024 ONE EXTENDED MEDITATION, Copeland Gallery, London, UK
2024 RIPPLES, Hypha studios, Sugar House Island, London, UK
2024 Contemporary Art Practice MA Graduation Show, Royal College of Art, London, UK
2024 Occult Surge, Moosey Gallery Hoxton, London, UK
2024 Traveling Memories, The Modern Showroom Shoreditch, London, UK
2024 William Blake and Conflict: Beyond Borders and Forms, Queen’s College, Cambridge, UK
2024 The Regenerative Power of War in the Arts, The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, UK
2024 The CAPiverse: Towards Levitation, TATE Modern, London, UK
2024 Welcome to the UK, Ugly Duck, London, UK
2024 Rites & Rituals, Safehouse 1, Peckham, London, UK
2023 Prophecy of Future Extinctions, CAP Space Gallery, RCA Battersea, London, UK
2023 ACROSS & OVER. Royal College of Art, HSBC HQ, Canary Wharf, London, UK
2023 Perspectives on Queer Hedonism, Club Silly, Brixton, London, UK
2023 Last Night Collective Vol 1: Quintesenti, W1 Curates Studios, London, UK
2023 Exhibition Poor.img. Royal College of Art, The MediaWorks, London, UK
2021 Co-Curation. Die Hasen Stunde, White Rectangle [] Berlin, DE
Selected Performances
2025 Carbon Bonds & Fishing Spirits at the Crater, GeoPark, Nysiros, GR
2025 Activation at Uprooted: Ghosts & the Bleaching of Roots, Ventana Project, U8 Gesundbrunnen, Berlin, DE
2024 Sound intervention at Murmurings of No-Man’s Land installation, Copeland Gallery, London, UK
2024 Cacerolazo Aunar, Copeland Gallery, London, UK
2024 The Shell & The Root II, Hypha studios, Sugar House Island, London, UK
2024 The Shell & The Root I, Royal College of Art, London, UK
2024 Welcome to the UK, Ugly Duck, London, UK
2022 The Body Weight of Passports, Site-specific, Brike Lane, London, UK
2021 GLASS Speaks in five (5) different tongues, White Rectangle [] Berlin, DE
Residencies
2025 UPCOMING Speculatives Ecologies, LabVerde, Amazon, BR
Curatorial Projects & Artist Talks
2024 RIPPLES, Hypha studios, Sugar House Island, London, UK
2024 Artist talk at The Regenerative Power of War in the Arts, The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, UK
2021 Die Hasen Stunde, White Rectangle [] Berlin, DE
Publications
2023 Published in RCA X HSBC Across & Over Exhibition
2023 Published in Sampler 87 Royal College of Art
2023 Published in Posters can help, Slanted Publishers
2022 Sole Authorship: GLASS Speaks in five (5) different tongues
2021 Sole Authorship: Wet Paper Smells After Two (2) Days
2021 Co-authorship: Die Hasen Stunde Nr.01 (The Hour of the Hare)
2019 Published in Visual Harmony, Send Points publishing house
Awards
2024 Eaton Trust Fund Grant
2023 Royal College of Art. Study Costs Bursary Scholarship
2022 Winner in Latin American Design Awards
2019 Winner in Latin American Design Awards
2018 Nominated in awwwards
Featured
2019 Featured in Behance, Motion Served
2017 Featured in Idn World
Experience
2019- Iconic Consulting Ltd, Creative Partner, Creative Director & Concept Developer, London, UK
2019- ST. Oberholz Consulting GmbH, Brand Activist; Creative direction & Art Direction, Berlin, DE
2016 Scholz & Friends GmbH, Art Director; Motion graphics & Concept Developer, Berlin, DE
2015 BLITZEN GmbH, Art Director; Motion graphics & Audiovisual Production, Berlin, DE
2012 Iconic Consulting GmbH, Graphic Designer & Motion Graphics, Berlin, DE
(b. 1987) Colombia
Lives and works in London and Berlin
Education
2025 Modular Synthesis for Live Performance and Composition, Berlin School of Sound, Berlin, DE
2024 MA Contemporary Art Practice, Royal College of Art, London, UK
2023 Graduade Diploma in Fine Art, Royal College of Art, London, UK
2012 MA Media and Audiovisual Production , Aalborg University Esbjerg & Hochschule Ostwestfalen-Lippe DK, DE
2007 BA Communication Design, Instituto de Diseño de Caracas, Caracas, VE
Exhibitions
2025 14th Art Auction, Weserhalle, Berlin, DE
2025 THE SIGNAL. THE NOISE, Greatorex Street, London, UK
2025 Uprooted: Ghosts & the Bleaching of Roots, Ventana Project, U8 Gesundbrunnen, Berlin, DE
2025 Ambient Fields, The Goodroom, Berlin, DE
2025 OUTBOUND, Galeria Objects, London, UK
2024 ONE EXTENDED MEDITATION, Copeland Gallery, London, UK
2024 RIPPLES, Hypha studios, Sugar House Island, London, UK
2024 Contemporary Art Practice MA Graduation Show, Royal College of Art, London, UK
2024 Occult Surge, Moosey Gallery Hoxton, London, UK
2024 Traveling Memories, The Modern Showroom Shoreditch, London, UK
2024 William Blake and Conflict: Beyond Borders and Forms, Queen’s College, Cambridge, UK
2024 The Regenerative Power of War in the Arts, The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, UK
2024 The CAPiverse: Towards Levitation, TATE Modern, London, UK
2024 Welcome to the UK, Ugly Duck, London, UK
2024 Rites & Rituals, Safehouse 1, Peckham, London, UK
2023 Prophecy of Future Extinctions, CAP Space Gallery, RCA Battersea, London, UK
2023 ACROSS & OVER. Royal College of Art, HSBC HQ, Canary Wharf, London, UK
2023 Perspectives on Queer Hedonism, Club Silly, Brixton, London, UK
2023 Last Night Collective Vol 1: Quintesenti, W1 Curates Studios, London, UK
2023 Exhibition Poor.img. Royal College of Art, The MediaWorks, London, UK
2021 Co-Curation. Die Hasen Stunde, White Rectangle [] Berlin, DE
Selected Performances
2025 Carbon Bonds & Fishing Spirits at the Crater, GeoPark, Nysiros, GR
2025 Activation at Uprooted: Ghosts & the Bleaching of Roots, Ventana Project, U8 Gesundbrunnen, Berlin, DE
2024 Sound intervention at Murmurings of No-Man’s Land installation, Copeland Gallery, London, UK
2024 Cacerolazo Aunar, Copeland Gallery, London, UK
2024 The Shell & The Root II, Hypha studios, Sugar House Island, London, UK
2024 The Shell & The Root I, Royal College of Art, London, UK
2024 Welcome to the UK, Ugly Duck, London, UK
2022 The Body Weight of Passports, Site-specific, Brike Lane, London, UK
2021 GLASS Speaks in five (5) different tongues, White Rectangle [] Berlin, DE
Residencies
2025 UPCOMING Speculatives Ecologies, LabVerde, Amazon, BR
Curatorial Projects & Artist Talks
2024 RIPPLES, Hypha studios, Sugar House Island, London, UK
2024 Artist talk at The Regenerative Power of War in the Arts, The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, UK
2021 Die Hasen Stunde, White Rectangle [] Berlin, DE
Publications
2023 Published in RCA X HSBC Across & Over Exhibition
2023 Published in Sampler 87 Royal College of Art
2023 Published in Posters can help, Slanted Publishers
2022 Sole Authorship: GLASS Speaks in five (5) different tongues
2021 Sole Authorship: Wet Paper Smells After Two (2) Days
2021 Co-authorship: Die Hasen Stunde Nr.01 (The Hour of the Hare)
2019 Published in Visual Harmony, Send Points publishing house
Awards
2024 Eaton Trust Fund Grant
2023 Royal College of Art. Study Costs Bursary Scholarship
2022 Winner in Latin American Design Awards
2019 Winner in Latin American Design Awards
2018 Nominated in awwwards
Featured
2019 Featured in Behance, Motion Served
2017 Featured in Idn World
Experience
2019- Iconic Consulting Ltd, Creative Partner, Creative Director & Concept Developer, London, UK
2019- ST. Oberholz Consulting GmbH, Brand Activist; Creative direction & Art Direction, Berlin, DE
2016 Scholz & Friends GmbH, Art Director; Motion graphics & Concept Developer, Berlin, DE
2015 BLITZEN GmbH, Art Director; Motion graphics & Audiovisual Production, Berlin, DE
2012 Iconic Consulting GmbH, Graphic Designer & Motion Graphics, Berlin, DE