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