The Village, 2016

About HELEN ZUGHAIB

Helen Zughaib was born in Beirut, Lebanon, living mostly in the Middle East and Europe before coming to the United States to study art at Syracuse University, earning her BFA from the College of Visual and Performing Arts.

Her work has been widely exhibited in galleries and museums in the United States, Europe and Lebanon. Her paintings are included in many private and public collections, including the White House, World Bank, Library of Congress, US Consulate, Vancouver, Canada, American Embassy in Baghdad, Iraq, the Arab American National Museum in Detroit, the Minneapolis Institute of Art, and the Barjeel Art Foundation Collection. Her paintings are also included in the DC Art Bank Collection and she has received the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities Fellowship award each year since 2015. Her work has been included in Art in Embassy State Department exhibitions abroad, including Abu Dhabi, Nigeria, Brunei, Nicaragua, Mauritius, Iraq, Belgium, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and Sweden. Helen has served as Cultural Envoy to Palestine, Switzerland, Saudi Arabia and most recently, Abu Dhabi. The John F. Kennedy Center/REACH, in Washington, DC, selected Helen for the 2021-2024 Inaugural Social Impact Practice residency, and she was a 2024 -2025 Senior Fellow at Abraham Path Initiative. Her paintings have been gifted to heads of state by President Obama and former Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton.

“As an Arab American, I hope through my work, to encourage dialogue and bring understanding and acceptance between the people of the Arab world and the West. My work is ultimately about creating empathy and a shared space for introspection and dialogue. I ask the viewer to see through someone else’s eyes, to walk in another’s shoes. To accept the ‘other.’ To reject divisiveness. To promote acceptance and understanding and to reject violence and subjugation of anyone anywhere. To give voice to the voiceless, to heal, and to reflect in our shared humanity.”

Site: https://hzughaib.com/

Instagram: @hzughaib

Facebook: helen.zughaib