b. 1959, Beirut, Lebanon; lives in Washington, D.C.
Helen Zughaib is a painter and multimedia artist whose work comments on Middle East diaspora and cultural identity, and creates an important dialogue between Arab and American cultures. These works...
Helen Zughaib is a painter and multimedia artist whose work comments on Middle East diaspora and cultural identity, and creates an important dialogue between Arab and American cultures. These works were created while in lockdown and reflect on the tension between confinement within interior spaces as well as restraint outside of them. Muffled explores the unifying nature of the mask, which Zughaib harnesses to highlight global political and social injustice. Globally many speak out but go unheard, while in the United States the Black Lives Matter movement has garnered crowds of masked protesters and the phrase “I Can’t Breath” has become ubiquitous. Conversely, Oh Tarek uses humor to allay anxiety during the lockdown. Shielded by a mashrabiyya, the woman is able to hide behind a mask of sorts while referencing the controversy of mandatory masks.
Zughaib was born in Lebanon and lived primarily in the Middle East and Europe before coming to the United States to study art. She graduated from Syracuse University with a BA in Fine Arts (1981). Her art is in the collection of many institutions worldwide, including the Minneapolis Institute of Art, the White House, Washington, D.C., the Library of Congress, and several U.S. embassies abroad in connection with the Art in Embassies Program. She has won eleven awards from the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, and has spoken abroad about art diplomacy at the invitation of the US Department of State.