Who Is She

Personal information

Artist, Political Activist
Nada Sehnaoui

Contact information / Work

Mobile: 
380 107 3 961

Education

Education: 
  • Diploma and Fifth Year, 1995, School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, United States of America.
  • Diploma in Higher Studies, History, 1987, University of Paris, Sorbonne, France.
  • Graduate Studies in Film Production, 1985, Boston University, United States of America.
  • Diploma in Cinematographic Studies and Research, 1981, Sorbonne Nouvelle - Paris III University, France.
  • Master's degree, Sociology, University of Paris and Nanterre, France.

Areas of expertise

Expertise: 
  • Visual Arts
  • Paintings and Installations
  • Human Rights Activist
  • Teaching
  • Curating Art Exhibitions
Languages: 
  • Arabic
  • English
  • French

Work history

Jobs: 
  • Freelance Visual Artist.
  • Part time faculty member, 2001 - 2004, Notre Dame University, Lebanon.
  • Curator, 2003 - 2004, The Gallery at Fennel.

Honorary office and memberships

  • Member of Berut Madinati
  • Founding Member of the Civil Center for National Initiative, 2007 - present.

 

Productions

Publications highlights: 
  • Sehnaoui, N. (2004). Histoire d’une toile [The story of a canvas]. Bahithat, X, 366 - 369.
  • Sehnaoui, N. (2002, October). En quoi l'éducation artistique contribut-elle au développement de l'enfant? [What does art education contribute to child development?]. La Revue de L'Ille, 2, 27-37.
  • Sehnaoui, N. (2002). L’occidentalisation de la vie quotidienne à Beyrouth, 1860-1914[Westernization of daily life in Beirut, 1860-1914]. Beirut: Dar An-Nahar.
Major achievements: 
  • Haven't 15 Years of Hiding in the Toilets Been Enough?, installation of 600 toilet seats created in 2008 in downtown Beirut in memory of the 15-year long Lebanese civil war.
  • Waynoun? [Where are They?], installation in 2006 commissioned by The Committee of Families of the Kidnapped and Disappeared in Lebanon to commemorate 31 years after the start of the Lebanese war, City Center, Martyr Square , Beirut.
  • Shared Spaces in Times of Crisis, roving exhibition in 2005 sponsored by the European Union as part of the Euro-Mediterranean project aimed at exploring themes of memory, shared spaces, and identity.
  • Atazakkar, Fractions of Memory, "Do you have a daily life memory of downtown Beirut before the war?”, installation created with 20 tons of newspaper and 100 texts about recovered memory and lost memory, recovered space and lost space, Martyrs Square, Beirut, from July to August, 2003.
  • Promenade in your Dreams, installation created with 1730 texts on wooden blocks and 50 chairs in 2001 at the International College, Beirut. Students, teachers and administrators of the International College in Beirut, were invited to write or draw the school of their dreams on one page.
  • Designer of the logo for the national campaign to lobby the Lebanese parliament to legislate for optional civil marriage in 1998.
Exhibitions, lectures & performances: 
  • Solo Exhibitions: Galerie Épreuve d’Artiste in Beirut (1993,1996, & 2000), Pleiades Gallery in New York City (1997 & 2000), Bag Gallery at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston (1994).
  • Group Exhibitions: LaGalerie in Paris (2008); Musée National d’Art Moderne et Contemporain in Algeria (2008); Art Paris, Sign and Caligraphy in Abu Dhabi (2007); Levant Foundation at Gramillion Gallery in Houston in Texas (2006); Musée Nicolas Sursock, Salon D’Automne in Beirut (1995, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2004 & 2006); The Gallery at Cork Street titled Lebanon: the Artist View II, London (2004); Centre Wallonie-Bruxelles in Paris (2001); St’art, Foire d’art contemporain de Strasbourg (2001); Goethe Institute in Beirut, Women’s Rights (1998); Alpha Gallery, New Talent Show, Boston (1995).
  • Fractions de mémoires [Fractions of memory], lecture given at Université Lyon II Lumière, Lyon, France, 2006.
  • The whole truth lecture given upon the invitation of the Committee of Families of the Kidnapped and Disappeared in Lebanon, Beirut, 2005.
  • Un pays frappé de stupeur [A stunned country], lecture given upon the invitation of the Lebanese Society of Psychoanalysis, Beirut, 2005.
Newspaper articles and columns: 
  • Sehnaoui, N. (2010, 27 January). Hayat tayyiba am intihar ghayr mousharref?" [A good life or a dishonoring suicide?]. An-Nahar.
  • Sehnaoui, N. (2009, 9 May). Law 'adat maryam ... ila loubnan? [If Mary returned ... to Lebanon?]. An-Nahar.
  • Sehnaoui, N. (2008, 11 July). Alqimma arrouhiya wa houqouq al-insan? [The spiritual summit and human rights?]. An - Nahar.
  • Sehnaoui, N. (2007, 1 February). Alyatim allatim [The orphan who lost both of his parents]. An - Nahar.
  • Sehnaoui, N. (2006, 22 August). Fikr qabali ta'ifi [A tribal sectarian mind]. An - Nahar.

Awards and Distinctions

Distinctions: 
  • Recipient of a grant from Prince Claus Fund in 2005.
  • Dana Pond Award Finalist, 1994.