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CV

1991

Riga, Latvia

Mētra Saberova is a Latvian queer feminist performance and moving-image artist. Mētra has used her own orchestrated experiences of medical tourism and bodily interventions to encourage discussions about the female body and its capabilities, including tubal ligation in Thailand, hymenoplasty in Poland, IVF consultations in Bulgaria and full breast tattoos in Latvia. Mētra gained her BA at the Art Academy of Latvia and completed her postgraduate studies at Central Saint Martins in London.

Next to the exhibitions, her focus is the scene in Riga, forming a core of the young Latvian feminist artist and activist generation. As the co-founder and manager of the Baltic Drag King Collective (est. 2019). Mētra has succeeded in introducing, maintaining and expanding a whole artistic and nightlife industry in the Latvian and Baltic region with the help of drag performers who embrace and push forward gender expression through the performance of masculinity. The establishment of this expanded drag network has been an important milestone for both the queer community and mainstream society in their efforts to widen the reach of queer art and queer messaging, and to provide new and sustainable opportunities in the cultural sector for marginalised performers.

Education

2018- unfinished

PhD, practice as research, London South Bank University, Arts and Creative Industries, UK

 

2015-2017

MA Fine Art (Distinction), Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts London, London, UK                                

2011-2015

BA (1st ), Painting Department at the Art Academy of Latvia, Riga, Latvia

 

2010-2011

University of Latvia, Faculty of History and Philosophy, Department of  Philosophy

Solo Shows

2017

 

Pimpin' Yo Mama Crib, curator Šelda Puķīte, Tartu Kunstimaja, Tartu, Estonia

Projects

Curator of group show Drag Yourself Here, Kogo Gallery, Tartu, Estonia, 2023

Curator of group show Voices, Low gallery, Riga, Latvia, 2022

Riga Pride core team 2022, 2023, 2024

Organizer of Latvian Drag King Festival 2019, Baltic Drag King Festival 2020, 2022 at Kaņepes Kultūras Centrs, Riga, Latvia

Curator of group show Euro Femmes at the Creative Studio of the Arsenāls Exhibition Hall of the Latvian National Museum of Art, 2019

                                        

Select Group Exhibitions and Screenings

Upcoming

2024

Group exhibition ''All's Good Between Us'', curated by Andra Silapētere, Latvian Centre for Contemporary Art

Group exhibition ''In the Name of Desire'', curated by Igors Gubenko, Laura Brokāne, Latvian National Museum of Art

Group exhibition ''Drag Yourself Here: Riga edition'', curated by Mētra Saberova, MASA studija

2023

Drag Yourself Here, curated by Mētra Saberova, Kogo Gallery, Tartu, Estonia

Don't Cry! Feminist Perspectives in Latvian Art: 1965–2023, curated by Elita Ansone, Latvian National Museum of Art, Riga, Latvia

2022

Viscerālās pārejas, group show, curated by Jana Kukaine, The Rainis and Aspazija Summer House, Jūrmala, Latvia

ES_TEXT, group show, curated by Elita Ansone and Leonards Laganovskis, Latvian National Museum of Art, Riga, Latvia

2019

Home Is Where The Heart Is, group show, curated by Jana Kukaine, Ziemeļblāzmas kultūras pils, Riga, Latvia

Euro Femmes, international group show, curated by Mētra Saberova, the Creative Studio of the ARSENĀLS Exhibition Hall of the Latvian National Museum of Art, Riga, Latvia

Self-doc, curated by Constantine Elijah, cave, London, UK

2018

Glandula Mammae, Pauls Stradins Museum for History of Medicine, curated by Jana Kukaine, Riga, Latvia

Wool and Silk. The New Erotic, curated by Jana Kukaine and Rasa Jansone, Riga Photomonth 2018. Latvian Museum of Photography, Riga, Latvia

 

Micro Acts 3, curated by Liberty Antonia Sadler & Lorraine Devine, Hotel Elephant, London, UK

Jeune Creation Europeenne touring group exhibition in France, Italy, Denmark, Romania, Spain, Portugal and Latvia in 2018/2019

2017

The Next Thing, Bury Art Museum and Sculpture Centre, Moving Image Gallery, Bury, UK

MOTHER, CINEMQ, Elevator, Shanghai, China

Monocular Spectator. Performance for the camera, curated by Diāna Popova, Gallery GEDOK, Munich, Germany

Queer Art(ists) Now, And What? Queer Arts Festival, The Mill Co. Project, London, UK

 

I'm Not Confused, I'm Contemporary, Lubimorov/ Angus-Hughes gallery, London, UK

International Videoart Week of Lanzarote, CIC El Almacen, Lanzarote, Canary islands

Show One, Lethaby Gallery, Central Saint Martins, London, UK

collaborative project

Feminist art performance and the publishing of feminist photography sketchbook Fembloks (with Ingrīda Pičukāne, Rasa Jansone, Vivianna Marija Stanislavska), Latvian Centre for Contemporary art, Riga, Latvia                               

2016

Hiding in plain sight, The Flying Dutchman, London, UK

 

is this (not) a woman, tAD gallery, Texas, USA

Visions, Nunnery gallery, Bow arts, London, UK

 

RETHink Art Digital Festival, Crete, Greece

 

Amy Johnson Festival, The 75 Seconds Film Challenge, Hull, UK

 

Big Screen, Latitude festival, UK

SIXTY

Lubomirov/ Angus-Hughes gallery, London

Platform Projects @ Art Athina, Athens

Tension. The Young in Latvian Painting III, Exhibition hall of the Latvian National Museum of Art ''Arsenāls'',Riga, Latvia

 

PANORAMA #1, screening programme at Bar Paragon, Genesis cinema, London

                                                       

2015

Gustavs Metzger’s call to Remember Nature, Central Saint Martins in collaboration with the Serpentine Galleries, London

Signifier, BA degree show of the Art Academy of Latvia, Tabacco factory, Riga, Latvia

 

What is happening there in Riga?, exhibition of the Art Academy of Latvia Painting Department, gallery Noorus, Tartu,Estonia

Speaker

6.04.19. Symposium ‘Manifestations of (In)Activism in the Latest Baltic Art’, Riga Photography Biennial, ISSP Gallery, Riga, Latvia

7.03.19. LadyFest Riga, artist presentation, Riga, Latvia

9.03.19. Oxytocin: Mothering the world, panel discussion, King's College London-Guys Campus

 

 

Awards

Artquest and Acava Lifeboat studio award 2018/2019

 

Latvia's selection for the Jeune Creation Europeenne 2018/2019

 

The Mona Hatoum Bursary 15/16

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