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Zena El Khalil
Lebanon
Film director, Scriptwriter
Interchange Participant 2010
Bio
Zena el Khalil, born 1976 in London, has lived in Nigeria, London, New York and Beirut, where she is currently based.
She is an artist, curator and environmental activist. For her work she makes use of various forms of expressions, such as painting, performance and installation, with mixed media techniques that include collage and writing. Her art mainly deals with the subject of violence and war: soldiers, both men and women, and civilians are decorated with plastic flowers, glitter, toy soldiers, fabrics, jewels and other found objects she has collected in Beirut.
Besides having exhibited her work internationally in many solo and group exhibitions, el Khalil has remained active promoting and representing emerging Arab artists through several cultural projects.
During the 2006 Israeli invasion of Lebanon, the artist started a blog (beirutupdate.blogspot.com) and gained international attention from the Press, reporting her personal experience of the 33-day long “siege” and the testimonies of the people around her.
She has recently published her first book, a memoir, Beirut, I Love You, whose translation rights have been sold to several European Countries such as Spain, Italy, Germany and Sweden. Together with Gigi Roccati she is currently working on the development of a long feature film based on her memoir.
