Helen Mirra was born in 1970 in Rochester, New York.
She lives and works in West Marin, California.

Mirra’s practice has consistently been formally minimal, using simple materials while engaged with maximal ideas about perception and participation as a person on this particular planet. In a practice synthesized with the activity of walking and an ethic of non-harm, she has produced works in a range of forms. Mirra’s open attitude has evolved alongside her appreciation for ancestors and peers across disciplines who have been committed to directness, gentleness and critical inquiry.

Helen Mirra select solo and two-persons exhibitions include: Du vent au vent, Rochechouart (2022); Nueve años caminando en las laderas, Museo de Arte Zapopan (2020); No Horizon, BAMPFA, Berkeley, California (2019); Gehen, weben / Camminare, tessere, Kunst Meran / Merano Arte, Meran (2017); Hourly Directional, with Ernst Karel, MIT List Visual Arts Center, Cambridge (2014); Gehend (Field Recordings 1-3), KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin, and Bonner Kunstverein, Bonn (2011).

Her work has been included in group exhibitions and institutions such as: Museu de Arte Contemporânea de São Paulo (2018); Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston (2018); MCA Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Chicago (2017);  Mudam Luxembourg, Luxembourg (2013); Nasjonalmuseet Oslo (2012); Collezione Maramotti, Reggio Emilia (2011); Kunsthaus Graz, Austria (2011); KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin (2008); Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas (2004); Berkeley Art Museum, Berkeley (2003); Whitney Museum of American Art, New York (2001). Mirra took part in the 50th Biennale di Venezia (2003) and in the 30th Biennal of São Paulo (2012). In 2020 she was the recipient of a Guggenheim fellowship.