Through a variety of techniques, Elena Damiani reinterprets themes drawn from geology, archaeology, and cartography, presenting natural elements and processes as incomplete and ambiguous spaces where multiple temporalities and topographies converge. The artist collects materials that carry narratives of their own—such as books, photographs, video footage, and public records—which are subsequently detached from their original contexts and recomposed into works that reveal the malleability of cultural artifacts and information. In her practice, Damiani constantly oscillates between past and present, science and narrative, the factual and the invented, the personal and the collective.

Her major solo exhibitions include The Shapes Within, Almeida & Dale, São Paulo, Brazil (2025); Ensayos de lo sólido, MAC Lima, Peru (2022); Great Circles, Galerie Nordenhake, Mexico City, Mexico (2019); As the Dust Unsettles, Revolver Galeria, Buenos Aires, Argentina (2019); In the Box: Elena Damiani’s Dust Tail, Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, USA (2017); Testigos: Un catálogo de fragmentos, Museo Amparo, Puebla, Mexico (2016), and MUAC, Mexico City, Mexico (2015); Excavaciones, Solo Projects ARCO, Madrid, Spain (2014); and All the Pieces Back Together, Selma Feriani Gallery, London, UK (2013).

Damiani has participated in several biennials, including the Seoul Mediacity Biennale (2023); Bienal de Cuenca (2018); Gwangju Biennale (2016); Vienna Biennale (2015); Venice Biennale (2015); and the Bienal do Mercosul (2011 and 2013). She also participated in Aichi Triennale: A Time Between Ashes and Roses, Nagoya, Japan (2025).

She has also taken part in group exhibitions at institutions including MAC Lima, Peru (2026); MoMA, New York, USA (2023); Museo de Arte Zapopan, Guadalajara, Mexico (2022); DePaul Art Museum, Chicago, USA (2020); Museu Coleção Berardo, Lisbon, Portugal (2019); Museo Universitario Arte Contemporáneo, Mexico City, Mexico (2015); Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, Moscow, Russia (2015); Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit, USA (2015); Americas Society, New York, USA (2014); Museo Tamayo, Mexico City, Mexico (2013); Museo de Arte Contemporáneo, Lima, Peru (2013); Museo de Bellas Artes de Valencia, Spain (2009); Museo de Arte Moderno de Buenos Aires, Argentina (2007); and Kunstmuseum Bonn, Germany (2006).

The artist received the Grants & Commissions Program award from the Cisneros Fontanals Art Foundation (CIFO), Miami, USA (2016); the Americas Society’s David Rockefeller Atrium commission, New York, USA (2014); an award from the International Festival of Digital Arts and Cultures of Gran Canaria (2006); and second prize in the Franco-Peruvian Visual Arts Competition Pasaporte para un Artista (2006).

Her work is held in major institutional collections including MoMA, USA; Museo de Arte de Lima, Peru; Museo Tamayo Arte Contemporáneo, Mexico; Kamel Lazaar Foundation, Switzerland; Cisneros Fontanals Art Foundation, USA; Pérez Art Museum, USA; and Kadist Art Foundation, USA and France.