Zena El Khalil
Visual Artist, writer, activist
Lebanon
Having been born London, England, Zena El Khalil grew up in Nigeria and then attended high school in England. After high school she returned to her home country of Lebanon and earned an undergraduate degree from the American University in Beirut. Then in 2002 El Khalil attained a Masters of Fine Arts from the School of Visual Arts, New York.
Zena El Khalil's work ranges from painting, installation, performance, mixed media, writing, video, and collage. She focuses mostly on highlighting the issues of violence and gender in Beirut, she creates her pieces using materials found in the city - everything from plastic flowers, glitter, photocopied images, strings of lights, plastic toy soldiers, toy AK-47s, beads, fabrics and in her work you will often see the colors pink, purple and gold used.. To quote the artist, “All spiritual. All holy. Every act we do or word we utter, we are absolutely responsible for. We are absolutely responsible for being alive. I am and I am grateful for, only being, a fragment in the cosmos of things... the great unbendable universe. The deeper I look into myself, the more I find that I am connected to something much greater. And this comforts me… knowing that everything I feel or make is a catalyst in someone else’s mind. And the more I let go to experience these beliefs, the closer I become to you. We are one, without being numerical. By painting and sculpting these images, I am fighting for life. I am fighting for your life. I am fighting for my life.”
She has held exhibitions in the United States, Europe, Africa and the Middle East. She has had solo exhibitions in London, Munich, and Beirut.Zena also holds and annual performance of a piece titled “The Pink Bride of Peace,” where she participates in the Beirut International Marathon wearing a big pink wedding dress. She uses this performance to raise awareness on issues in Lebanon such as animal rights, civil marriage, and to spread love, peace and positivity in a region that is volatile and unstable. The performance began in 2003 and has gone one every year since.
She is the co- founder, director and curator of Xanadu*; an "ungallery art space/collective". Xanadu* began in New York City as a not for profit organization dedicated to promoting emerging and under - represented artists. Currently, Xanadu* is based in Beirut with a small extension on New York City.
During the July War in Lebanon, El Khalil started beirutupdate from her apartment, a personal tale of the violence in Beirut that lasted for 33 days. The blog was quickly picked up by news stations such as CNN and the BBC with pieces being published in daily papers around the world.
In May 2008, El Khalil was invited by the Nobel Peace Center to participate in a discussion on freedom of expression on the internet.
In 2008 El Khalil also completed her first novel, Beirut, I Love You, published by Saqi Books which she has been working to produce a feature film.
Now she lives in Beirut with her Jack Russell Terrier, Tapi. She believes that listening to Fela Anikulapo Kuti’s music as a teenager helped her develop into the international rabble-rouser that she is today. Her daily mantra is Gandhi’s “be the change you wish to see in the world.”
In 2012 she was made a TED Fellow.
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| Boys with Toys II |
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| Crying Teta |
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| The Thrill of the Kill |
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| All You Need is Love |
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| For Those Who Have Died, and are Going to |
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