Jamil Hellu is a visual artist based in the San Francisco Bay Area, who creates personal and politically charged projects to expand the discourse on identity representation. Through an interdisciplinary studio practice rooted in photography, his work is a dynamic exploration of queerness, community, and cultural heritage.​​​​​​​
Born in Brazil and of Middle Eastern descent, Hellu's diverse ethnic background informs his practice and research, offering a critical lens through which to examine issues of race, discrimination, and belonging. In today’s political climate, where LGBTQ+ rights, immigration, and racial justice remain central to social struggles, Hellu’s projects invite viewers to consider the ways we construct, perceive, and validate identities.
Through a vibrant visual vocabulary, he repeatedly engages in self-portraiture, activating conversations around visibility, cultural lineage, and the evolving nature of self-representation. His work contributes to ongoing discussions about who gets to be seen and who doesn’t and the power of visual storytelling as a form of resistance.
Hellu earned his MFA in Art Practice from Stanford University and has exhibited widely. His work has been discussed in publications such as The New York Times, The Guardian, Artforum, and VICE. His projects have been supported by grants and residencies such as the Fleishhacker Foundation, the San Francisco Arts Commission, and the Headlands Center for the Arts. An active participant in the San Francisco Bay Area arts community, Hellu serves as an Advisory Board member for Recology’s Artist-in-Residence Program and is part of the Board of Directors of SF Camerawork.
He is a Photography Lecturer in the Department of Art & Art History at Stanford University.
Curriculum Vitae

EDUCATION
2010  Master of Fine Arts in Art Practice, Stanford University
2003  Bachelor of Fine Arts in Photography, San Francisco Art Institute


RESIDENCIES
2025  Montalvo Arts Center, CA, USA
2024  Radio28 Creative Studio, Mexico City, Mexico
          Montalvo Arts Center, CA, USA
2023  The Space Program, San Francisco, CA, USA
2022  Cow House Studios, Wexford, Ireland
2015   Kala Art Institute, Berkeley, CA, USA  
2014  Recology Artist-in-Residence Program, San Francisco, CA, USA
2010  Headlands Center for the Arts, CA, USA
2008 Cité Internationale des Arts, Paris, France
 

SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2024  Face to Face, Harold J. Miossi Gallery, San Luis Obispo, CA
2023  Odyssey, Rebecca Camacho Presents, San Francisco, CA 
2020  Jamil Hellu: Together, SF Camerawork, San Francisco, CA
2017  Jamil Hellu: Shopping Carts, San Francisco International Airport, CA
2016  Once Upon a Time, Thacher Gallery, University of San Francisco, CA 
2016  All Ways Lead to the Mill, Aggregate Space Gallery, Oakland, CA
2016  Present Tense, Berkeley Art Center, Berkeley, CA
2015  Darrin, Rayko Photo Center, San Francisco, CA
2014  Portraits, Recology San Francisco, CA


TWO-PERSON EXHIBITIONS
2016  David King & Jamil Hellu, Jon Stevenson Gallery, Sacramento, CA
2011  Between You and Me, JayJay Gallery, Sacramento, CA
2011  People we know, Center for Sex and Culture, San Francisco, CA


CURATORIAL PROJECT
2023  Dismantling Monoliths Exhibition, San Francisco Camerawork, CA

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2025
My Heart May Be Satisfied, Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR
2024
En Presencia de lo Ausente, Radio28 CS, Mexico City, Mexico
CULT Turns 10, CULT Aimee Friberg Exhibition, San Francisco, CA
Reclaimed: The Art of Recology, Carnegie Arts Center, Turlock, CA
Reclaimed: The Art of Recology, Irving Archives and Museum, Irving, TX
FOG Design+Art, Rebecca Camacho Presents, San Francisco, CA
We Are Stardust, Minnesota Street Project, San Francisco, CA
2023
Recent Acquisitions in Contemporary Art, Blanton Museum of Art, Austin, TX
Full Figure, Cantor Arts Center, Stanford, CA
NADA Miami, Rebecca Camacho Presents, FL
Reclaimed: The Art of Recology, Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum, WI
The Hornik Collection: Some Dogs, Four One Nine Studio, San Francisco, CA
Looking Back, Moving Forward, Colorado Photographic Arts Center, Denver CO
Have You Seen Me, San Francisco State University Fine Arts Gallery, CA
FOG Design+Art, Rebecca Camacho Presents, San Francisco, CA
2022
Gaze Interrupted, CULT Bureau, Oakland CA
Hope is a Discipline, Art Works Downtown, San Rafael, CA
A Library of Forms, Robert F. Agrella Gallery, Santa Rosa Junior College, CA
Witness, The Neon Heater Art Gallery, Findlay, OH
2021
Witness, School of Art Landmark Gallery, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX
Queer-y-ing the Arab: The Canary in the Freedom Mine, Apexart, New York, NY
Reclaimed: The Art of Recology, Bedford Gallery, Lesher Center for Arts, Walnut Creek, CA
2020
Invocation Democracy, Pro Arts Gallery, Oakland, CA
The American Dream, Photographic Center Northwest, Seattle, WA
Home/Body, Contemporary Art of the Middle East, Mills College, Oakland, CA
The Queer Archive Festival, Romantso Gallery, Athens, Greece
Sense of Self, San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art, San Jose, CA
2019
Recology Artist-in-Residence Program’s 30th Anniversary, Arc Gallery, San Francisco, CA 
The Tallest Part of the Arch, Southern Exposure, San Francisco, CA
Picturing Identity, Diablo Valley College Art Gallery, Pleasant Hill, CA
2018 
Bay Area Now 8, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, CA
Reorienting the Imaginaries, SOMArts, San Francisco, CA
Mark for Redaction, Flux Factory, New York, NY
Intersection of Gazes, Euqinom Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Queer Voices, LH Horton Jr Gallery, San Joaquin Delta College, Stockton, CA
Trove: Selections from Recology, San Marco Gallery, Dominican College, San Rafael, CA
Academic Practice: Bay Area Photography Now, Coulter Art Gallery, Stanford University, CA
The Tipping Point, Corden Potts Gallery, San Francisco, CA
A History of Violence, SOMArts, San Francisco, CA
The Third Muslim, SOMArts, San Francisco, CA
2017
The Yud Video Project, Contemporary Jewish Museum, San Francisco, CA
Campions, Jonathan Hopson Gallery, Houston, TX
Where We Find Ourselves, University of the Arts, Philadelphia, PA
Where We Find Ourselves, Penn State Abington Art Gallery, Abington, PA
Can We Design Freedom?, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, CA
Magic Word Mother Tongue, SOMArts, San Francisco, CA
Kala 2017, Kala Art Institute, Berkeley, CA
Justice for All?, Euphrat Museum of Art, De Anza College, Cupertino, CA
Detritus, San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art, San Jose, CA
2016
Recology's Photography and Video Retrospective, SF Camerawork, San Francisco, CA
Collections, Rayko Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Architecture and the City, American Institute of Architecture, San Francisco, CA
Appro-propagation: Kala Fellows, Kala Art Institute, Berkeley, CA
Zones of Representation, SF Camerawork, San Francisco, CA
Climate Change, Art Works Downtown, San Rafael, CA
From Me to You, Pro Arts Gallery, Oakland, CA
2015
Armados de Impaciencia, LANAU Espacio Creativo, Madrid, Spain
The Kinsey Institute Art Show, Grunwald Gallery of Art, Bloomington, IN
Performing Mythologies, Colorado Photographic Arts Center, Denver, CO
The Rights of Summer, Ripe Art Gallery, Huntington, NY
June Art Month, Innovation Hanger, Palace of Fine Arts, San Francisco, CA
Make Art, Not Landfill, Thoreau Center for Sustainability, San Francisco, CA
Quoting Ourselves, SFSU Art Gallery, San Francisco, CA
The Artists' Annual, Kala Art Institute, Berkeley, CA
Parts of the Whole, Diablo Valley College Art Gallery, Pleasant Hill, CA
Art at the Dump, San Francisco Federal Building, San Francisco, CA
The Art of Recology, Voila Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Trashed and Treasured, Napa Valley Museum, Napa, CA
2014
More Than One Way, Southern Exposure, San Francisco, CA
Aperture Summer Open, Aperture Foundation, New York, NY
30th Anniversary, Artists’ Television Access, San Francisco, CA
Last Photograph, Unbox Festival, New Delhi, India
Knight Finalists, Anne & Mark’s Art Party, San Jose, CA
Long Shot 2014, Photographic Center Northwest, Seattle, WA
New Orleans Culture Photography Exhibition, Moscow House of Photography, Russia
2013
It’s a Thin Line Between Love & Hate, United Photo Industries, Brooklyn, NY
Take Me Away, San Francisco Arts Commission, San Francisco, CA
Cover to Cover: Survey of members' books, SF Camerawork, SF, CA
Image and Identity, Black Box Gallery, Portland, OR
Faculty Art Show, Diablo Valley College Art Gallery, Pleasant Hill, CA
Long Shot 2013, Photographic Center Northwest, Seattle, WA
This Will Never Work, Southern Exposure, San Francisco, CA
2012
Equivalents, Photographic Center Northwest, Seattle, WA
Portrait: Mirror Mirror, Black Box Gallery, Portland, OR
2011
Kiss: New Sincerity & New Romanticism in Art, Clara M Eagle Gallery, Murray, KY
Graduate Fellows Exhibition, Headlands Center for the Arts, Sausalito, CA
Long Shot 2011, Photographic Center Northwest, Seattle, WA
Sincerely Yours, Baer Ridgway Exhibitions, San Francisco, CA
2010
Select Gender, Farmani Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
Co-Existing and Co-Laborating, Aurora Picture Show, Houston, TX
Roll Call, SF Camerawork, SF, CA
Chronotopia, Lineage: Matchmaking in the Archives, SOMArts, SF, CA
Square Root, MFA Thesis Exhibition, Thomas Welton Gallery, Stanford, CA
2009
Men and the Domestic Interior, Transformer Gallery, Washington DC
Co-Existing and Co-Laborating, SPACES Gallery, Cleveland, OH
Passive/Aggressive, Southern Exposure, San Francisco, CA
Ersatz, SF Camerawork, San Francisco, CA
Sweet and Matchless, PLAySPACE Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Very Close to Far Away, Thomas Welton Gallery, Stanford, CA
2008
Brazil, Hotel des Arts, San Francisco, CA
National Juried Exhibition, Toledo Friends of Photography, Toledo, OH


ART COMMISSION INSTALLATION
2020  Art for Essential Workers, 100 Days of Action, Sutter Health, San Francisco, CA
2018  Facebook Headquarters, Artist-in-Residence Program, San Francisco, CA


AWARDS / ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
2023           Lucas Artists Residency Program Fellowship, Montalvo Arts Center
2020           Community Arts Grant, Zellerbach Family Foundation
2019            Individual Artist Grant, San Francisco Arts Commission
2018            Eureka Fellowship Award, Fleishhacker Foundation
2018            Salon 2018 Publication Fellowship Award, Peripheral Vision Press
2016-2017   Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Fellowship: Freedom Cohort
2016            Endeavor Foundation for the Arts Grant
2015-2016   San Francisco Queer Cultural Center Grant
2015            Kala Institute Fellowship Award
2015            Vevey International Photo Award Shortlist 
2014            Knight Foundation Grant
2014            MACLA/Movimiento de Arte y Cultura Latino Americana Grant
2011             San Francisco Artist Award Nomination, Frey Norris Gallery 
2010            Headlands Center for the Arts Graduate Fellowship Award
2010            Suzanne Baruch Lewis MFA Grant, Stanford University
2008-2010  The Markowski-Leach Scholarship Award
2004           Public Industry Council Scholarship, Bay Area Video Coalition
2000-2003 Scholarship for the Arts Award, San Francisco Art Institute
1998-2000  English as a Second Language Scholarship , Cabrillo College
1999            Spring Show Award, Cabrillo College
1999            Photojournalism Contest Award, Cabrillo College
1999            Photographer’s Forum 19th Annual Contest, Honorable Mention


BOARDS / JURIES / PANELS
2023/Present   SF Camerawork Board of Directors
2014/Present   Recology's Artist-in-Residence Program, Advisory Board Member
2023                Center for Photographic Art, Artist Grants, Juror
2017-2021        Aggregate Space Gallery, Advisory Board Member
2021                Queer Intersections, Recology AIR, Panelist
2021                Queer-y-ing the Arab Queerness, Apexart in partnership with ArteEast, Panelist
2018                Sustainable Art Practices, stARTup Art Fair, Panelist
2017                Headlands Center for the Arts: Artist-in-Residence Program, Juror
2017                Kala Fellowship Award, Juror
2017                San Francisco Art Institute Public Education Exhibition, Juror
2017                De Anza College Annual Student Show, Juror
2017                Thinking FWD: The 18th Thacher Art + Architecture Annual, Juror
2017                Artist in Residencies, stARTup Art Fair, Panelist
2016                Headlands Center for the Arts: Graduate Fellow & Affiliate Artist programs, Juror