Zena el Khalil

Zena el Khalil believes in the positive impact that art can have on the world. Born year of the Dragon, Zena is an artist, author, sacred activist and Nāda yoga instructor based in Beirut, Lebanon. Zena uses visual art, site-specific installation, performance and ritual to explore and heal the war-torn history of Lebanon and other global sites of trauma. Believing in the importance of community engagement with contemporary art, she also curates cultural events that create platforms for dialogue and exchange. Though her collective, the Ātman Institute, Zena curates events, workshops and concerts dedicated to healing and reconciliation, through the mediums of ceremony, sound and art. Merging art and healing modalities, Zena has been conducting healing ceremonies across Lebanon in spaces that have historically endured trauma and violence, such as environmental disasters, massacres and even the torturing of human beings. With the intention of transforming these places and objects in them into generators peace and reconciliation in nature and with communities, these ceremonies include a process of meditation, chanting, dancing, whirling and a purifying fire ritual through which she create paintings, sculptures, sound and video art. While living in NYC, Zena witnessed firsthand the World Trade Center collapsing and subsequently co-founded xanadu*, an art collective and gallery space dedicated to promoting emerging Arab and underrepresented artists as a means to create a much needed bridge with the NYC community. During the 2006 invasion of Lebanon, Zena was one of the first largely followed Middle Eastern bloggers (Beirut Update); her heartfelt eyewitness writings were published in the international press, including the BBC, CNN, the Guardian and Der Spiegel. In 2008, she was invited to speak at the Nobel Peace Center in Oslo and soon after, completed her memoir, Beirut, I Love You, now translated in several languages. In 2012, Zena was invited to join the TED Fellowship program and in 2018 she was awarded a TED Senior Fellowship. Zena is a graduate of the world's first Nāda Yoga teacher training program, the Heart of Sound - Rishikesh, India, dedicated solely to the yoga of sacred sound. She also holds a 250+ hr Yogāsana teaching certificate from Indea Yoga in Mysore, India. She teaches at Union Square Yoga in Beirut, Lebanon. She exhibits internationally and is represented by Giorgio Persano Gallery, Italy.