Hélio Volana (1994, France) lives and works between Paris and Antananarivo. They are a graduate of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Brussels.
Hélio Volana's practice unfolds a sensitive cartography where matter becomes a receptacle for the invisible. The artist invokes absences, renders silences audible, and materialises the mechanisms of erasure. Permeable to both contemporary concerns and forgotten narratives, the artist builds a hybrid body of work weaving together colonial archives, Malagasy spiritual traditions, queer counter-cultures, and popular cultures.
In 2026, Hélio Volana presents their first solo exhibition at La Teinturerie, in Antananarivo. Drawing on iconographic archives from the French colonial period in Madagascar, the exhibition unfolds a major textile and sculptural body of work. Fibre and earth combine to invoke stories of resistance long buried by these dominant memories. In 2026, two works by Hélio Volana join the Fondation H collection. Hélio Volana joins Artagon Pantin as artist-in-residence for 2026–2028. They are a recipient of the FoRTE (Région Île-de-France, 2024) and MIRA (Institut français, 2024) grants. Their work has notably been presented at the Pattani Biennale in Thailand, at Ceysson & Bénétière Gallery (Saint-Étienne), at the Maison des Arts de Malakoff, at the Centre Tignous pour l'art contemporain (Montreuil), at FIAP Martinique (Fort-de-France), and at Fesses-tival (Geneva). Their performance work unfolds in the corpus Dildo’s Lament, initiated in the wake of the FoRTE programme and produced in delegated production by La Muse en Circuit. Hélio Volana has been in residence at Fondation H and the Institut français de Madagascar (Antananarivo), at Ménagerie de Verre (Paris), and at the national centres for musical creation La Muse en Circuit (Alfortville) and Césaré (Reims).
Their research has also led to a first publication in the magazine Afrikadaa, with the article Bruits blancs: notes on the frequencies of erasure.
Hélio Volana has notably collaborated with Antonija Livingstone, Emma Bigé, and Darius Dolatyari-Dolatdoust. These collaborations have led them to perform at Lafayette Anticipations, Fondation Fiminco, Ménagerie de Verre, Centre Pompidou, and the Louvre Museum.
h.helio@protonmail.com
Photo: Andy Rasoloharivony