Helen Zughaib - EMERGEAST
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Helen Zughaib
b. 1959, Lebanon

"My work is ultimately about creating empathy. Creating 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, to reflect in our shared humanity."

Helen Zughaib was born in Beirut, Lebanon, living in the Middle East and Europe before moving to America to study art at Syracuse University. Helen currently lives in Washington, DC. As an Arab American, Helen feels that her background allows her to approach experiences as an observer of both Arab and American cultures. She paints primarily in gouache, ink on board, and canvas.

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 General, Vancouver, Canada, American Embassy in Baghdad, Iraq, the Arab American National Museum in Detroit, Michigan, and the Minneapolis Institute of Art. Her paintings are included in the DC Art Bank Collection and she has received the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities Fellowship award in 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020 Her work has been included in Art in Embassy State Department exhibitions abroad, including Brunei, Nicaragua, Mauritius, Iraq, Belgium, Lebanon and Saudi Arabia. Helen has served as Cultural Envoy to Palestine, Switzerland and Saudi Arabia. Her paintings have been gifted to heads of state by President Obama and former Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton.

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Credentials

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Permanent collection of World Bank and Library of Congress
Former heads of state permanent collections
Over 45 international solo exhibitions

Artist Statement

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“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, especially since 9/11, our wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, and the more recent revolutions and crises in the Arab world, resulting from the “Arab Spring” that began in late 2010, leading to the current war in Syria and the massive displacement of people seeking refuge in Europe, the Middle East and America.”


CV

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Education

Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York
College of Visual and performing Arts, Bachelor of Fine Arts, 1981
Northeast London Polytechnic School of Art, London, England


Solo Exhibitions

2023 Hall of Nations at the Kennedy Center, Washington, DC
2023 ArtHub609 Gallery, Washington, DC
2023 Hall of States, Kennedy Center, Washington, DC
2022 Hall of Nations at the Kennedy Center, Washington, DC
2022 Welcome Pavilion at Kennedy Center/REACH, Washington, DC
2021 Brentwood Arts Exchange, Brentwood, MD
2021 Greenbelt Gallery, Greenbelt , MD
2021 Inova Schar Joan Hisaoka Healing Arts Gallery, Fairfax, VA
2021 Gallery Al-Quds, Washington, DC
2021 Watergate Gallery, Washington, DC
2020 Cosmos Club, Washington, DC
2020 Creative Alliance, Baltimore, MD
2019 Baum Gallery, Conway, AR
2019 Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art, Boulder, CO
2019 Woodrow Wilson House Museum, Washington, DC
2019 Gallery Al-Quds, Washington, DC
2018 World Bank, Washington, DC
2017 Allegheny College, Pittsburgh, PA
2017 Harvard University, Cambridge, MA
2016 York College of Pennsylvania, York, PA, USA
2015 Mamia Bretesche Gallery, Paris, France
2015 Woman’s National Democratic Club, Washington, DC, USA
2015 University of Maryland University College, Adelphi, MD, USA
2015 Arab American National Museum, Dearborn, MI, USA
2014 Gallery Al-Quds, Palestine Center, Washington, DC, USA
2014 Sharjah Expo Centre, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates
2014 University of Maryland, Baltimore , Baltimore, MD, USA
2013 Syra Arts Gallery, Washington, DC, USA
2013 Protea Gallery, San Diego, CA, USA
2012 Covington and Burling, Washington, DC, USA
2012 Woodrow Wilson Center, Washington, DC, USA
2012 Stimson Center, Washington, DC, USA
2012 Gallery Al Quds, Palestine Center,Washington, DC, USA
2010 Agial Gallery, Beirut, Lebanon
2008 International Visions Gallery, Washington, DC, USA
2007 Woodrow Wilson Center, Washington, DC, USA
2007 ART Station Gallery, Stone Mountain, GA, USA
2006 Watergate Gallery, Washington, DC, USA
2006 Georgetown University, Washington, DC, USA
2005 Dadian Gallery, Washington, DC, USA
2005 Hugo House Gallery, Seattle, WA, USA
2005 International Visions Gallery, Washington, DC, USA
2004 Maryland Hall, Annapolis, MD, USA
2004 Palestine Center, Gallery Al Quds, Washington, DC, USA
2004 Children’s National Hospital, Washington, DC, USA
2003 Watergate Gallery, Washington, DC, USA
2002 EuropArt Gallery, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
2002 International Visions Gallery, Washington, DC, USA
2001 Covington and Burling, Washington, DC, USA
2001 Atrium Gallery, Washington, DC, USA
2001 Greenberg House, Washington, DC, USA
2001 Embassy of Lebanon, Washington, DC, USA
2000 National Republican Convention, Philadelphia, PA, USA
2000 Palestine Center, Gallery Al Quds, Washington, DC, USA
1999 International Visions Gallery, Washington, DC, USA
1998 Grand Hyatt, Washington, DC, USA
1997 Russell Rotunda, United States Capitol, Washington, DC, USA
1997 Artifice Gallery, Syracuse, NY, USA
1995 Arts Club of Washington, Washington, DC, USA
1993 Artifice Gallery, Syracuse, NY, USA
1990 Alif Gallery, Washington, DC, USA
1988 National Institute of Health, Washington, DC, USA
1987 Omni Shoreham, Washington, DC, USA
1987 Levine school of Music, Washington, DC, USA
1987 Arts Club of Washington, Washington, DC, USA


Group Exhibitions

2024 'Boundless, Binding', Subliminal Projects x Emergeast, Los Angeles, USA
2023 Spazju Kreattiv, Valletta, Malta
2023 Addison Ripley Gallery, Washington, DC
2022 Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis, MN
2022 Addison Ripley Gallery, Washington, DC
2022 St. Katherine University, St. Paul, MN
2022 University of North Texas CVAD Galleries, TX
2022 Peg Center for the Arts, Newburyport, MA
2022 Katzen Museum, Washington, DC
2022 Art In Embassies, US Ambassador’s Residence, Stockholm, Sweden
2022 Arlington Arts Center, Arlington, VA
2022 CCBC Art Gallery, Baltimore, MD
2022 VisArts, Rockville, MD
2022 Minnesota Center for Book Arts, Minn., MN
2022 'Dreaming Tomorrow', Emergeast Dubai, online
2022 Women of FAME, Artsy.net
2021 Michelene Klagsburn Studio, Washington, DC
2021 Middle East Institute, Washington, DC
2021 Addison Ripley Gallery, Washington, DC
2021 Joan Hisaoka Center for Healing, Washington, DC
2021 Puffin Foundation, Teaneck, NJ
2020 Art Bank Collection-Women’s Suffrage, Online Exhibit, Washington, DC
2020/21 Middle East Institute Gallery, Washington, DC
2020 San Francisco Center for Book Arts, San Francisco, CA
2020 Gallery Al-Quds, Washington, DC
2020 Watergate Gallery, Washington, DC
2019 Tsichritis Arts Foundation, Athens, Greece
2019 Baltimore College, Baltimore, MD
2019 Stand4 Gallery, New York, NY
2019 Library of Congress, Washington, DC
2019 Center for Book Arts, New York, NY
2019 Arab American National Museum, Dearborn, MI
2019 Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design, Milwaukee, WI
2018 Sordoni Gallery, Wilkes Barre University, PA
2018 Arab American National Museum, Dearborn, MI
2018 Brown University, Providence, RI
2018 Vanderbilt University Fine Arts Gallery, Nashville, TN
2018 Gallery 102, Washington, DC
2018 Martie McMane Gallery, Boulder, CO
2018 Dadian Gallery, Washington, DC
2018 Watergate Gallery, Washington, DC
2018 KYO Gallery, Alexandria, VA
2018 St. Mark’s Episcopal Cathedral, Seattle, WA
2018 The World Bank, Washington, DC
2018 Smith Center for Healing and the Arts, Washington, DC
2018 Kerlin Gallery, York, PA
2018 Cosmos Club, Washington, DC
2018 The Jackson Hole Center for the Arts, Jackson, WY
2018 Target Gallery, Alexandria, VA
2018 Studio Gallery, Washington, DC2018 DCAC, Washington, DC
2017 Gallery 102, Washington, DC
2017 Irving Center for the Arts, Dallas, TX
2017 Touchstone Gallery, Washington, DC
2017 National Gallery of Art, Islamabad, Pakistan
2017 Irving Arts Center, Dallas, TX
2017 Katzen Museum, Washington, DC
2017 Black and White Building, London, UK
2017 Watergate Gallery, Washington, DC
2017 Washington Printmakers Gallery, Washington, DC
2017 St. Martin in the Fields, London, UK
2017 New York University, Washington, DC
2017 Eye St. Gallery, Washington, DC
2017 National Gallery of Art, Amman, Jordan 2017 Smith Center for the Arts, Washington, DC
2017 Eisemann Center of Performing and Visual Arts, Richardson, TX
2016 US Ambassador’s Residence, The Quincy House, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
2016 United States Institute of Peace, Washington, DC
2016 Bohrer Park Gallery, Gaithersburg, MD
2016 Gallery Al-Quds, Washington, DC
2016 Busboys and Poets, with the Phillips Collection, Washington, DC
2016 Online exhibition, #Panel 61, Phillips Collection, Washington, DC
2016 Santa Fe University of Art and Design, Santa Fe, NM
2016 Galerie Camille, Detroit, MI
2016 Museum at Tamastslikit Cultural Institute, Pendleton, OR
2016 St. John’s Cathedral, Spokane, WA, USA
2016 Gallery Al Quds, Washington, DC, USA
2016 Smith Center for the Arts, Washington, DC, USA
2016 University of District of Columbia, Washington, DC, USA
2016 Dadian Gallery, Wesley Theological Seminary, Washington, DC, USA
2016 Arab American National Museum, Dearborn, MI, USA
2016 Trinity Church Wall Street, New York, USA
2016 Watergate Gallery, Washington, DC, USA
2015 Eye Street Gallery, Washington, DC, USA
2015 Cathedrale Saint-Etienne, Metz, France
2015 Cambridge Multicultural Arts Center, Cambridge, MA, USA
2015 Smith Center for the Arts, Washington, DC, USA
2015 LumineArte Gallery, Dallas, TX, USA
2015 York College Galleries, York, PA, USA
2015 Cafritz Foundation Arts Center, Montgomery College, Montgomery, MD, USA
2015 Dadian Gallery, Washington, DC, USA
2015 P21 Gallery, London, UK
2015 The Bridge, St. Martin-in-the-Fields, London, UK
2015 Flashpoint Gallery, Washington, DC, USA
2015 The Bridge, Westtown Hub Gallery, Cairo, Egypt
2015 The Bridge, Saint Germaine de Pres Cathedral, Paris, France
2015 WPA Select, Artisphere, Arlington, VA, USA
2014 Salem College, Winston Salem, NC, USA
2014 LuminArte Gallery, Dallas, TX, USA
2014 CARAVAN, Cathedral Saint John the Divine, New York, NY, USA