Overview

Helen Barff is a sculptor, living and working in London. She graduated from Goldsmiths College in Fine Art and Art History BA (Hons) in 1999 and completed a drawing MA at Camberwell College of Art in 2004. She has exhibited in various locations in the UK and internationally, including a solo show 'I Wrap My Fear Around Me Like A Blanket' at Close Ltd and Taunton Brewhouse in 2022, and 'Finding Family', a group show at the Foundling Museum, London. Helen also teaches and runs workshops, most recently with Market Hall Museum, Warwick working with a group of female immigrants exploring memory and migration.

In 2023 Barff was a finalist in the Royal Society of Sculptors 'First Plinth: Public Art Award'.

Her work is held in various collections in the UK, Canada, Mexico and the USA.

"Barff has a longstanding interest in making sculpture that is driven from history, science and storytelling. Mapping her way through a journey of investigation and finding meaning by stitching together significant historical facts and overlooked practices, materials and techniques. She explores through communications and conversations with people that span a wide demographic. Since her graduation from Goldsmiths College 1999, she has created an eccentric menagerie of sculptures that take on a presence of animal, human, or something in-between. Her work suggests the complexity of life as well as the mythologies, superstitions and vanities that underpin it the shadowy ‘other’ within us all." Freeny Yianni, Close Ltd

Works
  • Helen Barff, Big Washing I, 2024
    Big Washing I, 2024
  • Helen Barff, Big Washing II, 2024
    Big Washing II, 2024
  • Helen Barff, Big Washing III, 2024
    Big Washing III, 2024
  • Helen Barff, Small Washing ,Series No. 1 to 4, 2024
    Small Washing ,Series No. 1 to 4, 2024
  • Helen Barff, Small Washing , Series No. 5-8, 2024
    Small Washing , Series No. 5-8, 2024
  • Helen Barff, Small Washing, Series No. 9-11, 2024
    Small Washing, Series No. 9-11, 2024
  • Helen Barff, Hope with a Stick, 2025
    Hope with a Stick, 2025
  • Helen Barff, Chevron Girl, 2025
    Chevron Girl, 2025
  • Helen Barff, Safe Return, 2025
    Safe Return, 2025
  • Helen Barff, Rise (Yellow), 2020
    Rise (Yellow), 2020
  • Helen Barff, Untitled Shirt (GS), 2011
    Untitled Shirt (GS), 2011
  • Helen Barff, Untitled Shirt (OWS), 2011
    Untitled Shirt (OWS), 2011
  • Helen Barff, Hug, 2022
    Hug, 2022
  • Helen Barff, Blessed, 2021
    Blessed, 2021
  • Helen Barff, Marion, 2019
    Marion, 2019
  • Helen Barff, Brenda, 2019
    Brenda, 2019
  • Helen Barff, ER Hammond, 2019
    ER Hammond, 2019
  • Helen Barff, Den I, 2022
    Den I, 2022
  • Helen Barff, Den II, 2022
    Den II, 2022
  • Helen Barff, Den III, 2022
    Den III, 2022
  • Helen Barff, Pillbox studies, 2022
    Pillbox studies, 2022
  • Helen Barff, Pocket 33, 2013
    Pocket 33, 2013
  • Helen Barff, Pocket 47, 2019
    Pocket 47, 2019
  • Helen Barff, Pocket 53, 2021
    Pocket 53, 2021
  • Helen Barff, Shoulder, Hip, Lap, 2016
    Shoulder, Hip, Lap, 2016
  • Helen Barff, Untitled (BB), 2012
    Untitled (BB), 2012
  • Helen Barff, Untitled (BBB), 2011
    Untitled (BBB), 2011
  • Helen Barff, Untitled (PB), 2012
    Untitled (PB), 2012
  • Helen Barff, Untitled (SB), 2011
    Untitled (SB), 2011
Exhibitions
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