The present work contains Assi’s perceptive visual references to her native Beirut. She depicts the deep complexities of contemporary life in its chaotic landscape. Unique from her usual works, Beirut is juxtaposed with a large, composed mountain range that balances the disorder. Assi’s acrylic and collage on canvas is laden with buildings, billboards and electricity wires adjacent to familiar posters and street art. The multi-layered composition is impressively detailed, requiring closer study to reveal the particularities of the city. Assi’s oeuvre often contains references to larger political issues, as well as the emotional, social, and cultural baggage carried within the city’s contemporary structure.

Zena Assi (Lebanese, b. 1974) manoeuvres her practice by trying to uncover the interactions and clashes that arise between individuals and their surrounding socio-political environment, often focusing on themes of migration and nostalgia. Assi’s oeuvre stylizes the historical imprints of Lebanon on its contemporary urban landscapes. She works in a variety of formats including installation, drawing, etching, experimental animations, sculpture, and most predominantly, painting. Her body of paintings portray eccentric depictions of the city, intriguing still-lifes, and bouquets composed of strange objects. 

She completed her education at l'Académie Libanaise des Beaux Arts (ALBA). After working in the advertising industry for a period, she taught in a number of universities. Assi has won several prizes throughout her artistic career including: the Sunny Dupree Family Award, London, 2020; the Rosemary & Co Award, London, 2018; and the Special Jury Prize of the XXIX Autumn Salon of the Sursock Museum, Beirut, 2009. 

Held in several public and private collections, Assi’s work has also been exhibited in solo and group shows globally. Some notable mentions include: Galerie Tanit, Beirut; Alwane gallery, Beirut; Artsawa gallery, Dubai; Zoom Art Fair, Miami; Espace Claude Lemand, Paris; Cairo Biennale; Katzen Arts Center of American University, Washington D.C.; CAP Contemporary Art Platform Gallery Space, Kuwait; Art13 & Art14 London Fair; IWM Imperial War Museum, London; Institut du Monde Arabe, Paris; the Royal Academy, London; and the 57th Venice Art Biennale. Today, Assi lives and works in London.