LEILA KHOURY

  • CC Archives
  • A Soulful Body
  • ملح و ضباب
  • Near East
  • al-Jiran
  • Dirges
  • About + CV

    Leila Khoury (she/they) is a multidisciplinary artist based in Cleveland, Ohio. Khoury received her BFA in Interdisciplinary Sculpture from the Maryland Institute College of Art and her Master of Architecture and Certificate in Historic Preservation from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

    Khoury’s graduate thesis, A Soulful Body: The Immigration and Placemaking of Arabs in Detroit, chronicles the history and built environment of Detroit’s Arab American communities. In addition to highlighting buildings that were adaptively reused by refugee and immigrant groups in the last century, A Soulful Body speaks to the ways in which the groups continually carve out space for themselves in spite of the displacement they’ve endured in both historic and contemporary contexts. A Soulful Body was selected to be published by Empress Editions through their juried Artist Book Residency in August 2020.

    Khoury currently serves as Creative Director of an ongoing research project called the Cleveland Community Archives. An interactive website and storytelling platform, the Archives houses a growing collection of oral histories that document Cleveland’s DIY and experimental art spaces, mutual aid organizations, LGBTQIA+ venues, and other non-commercial spaces that have dissipated due to gentrification and other systemic acts of erasure.

    Khoury’s work has been featured in solo and group exhibitions in Cleveland and Columbus, OH; New York City and Troy, NY; Chicago, IL; Baltimore, MD; Washington, D.C.; Pittsburgh, PA; Waeukesha, WI; and Subhan, Kuwait. Between June and September 2018, two works by Khoury were featured in the National Museum of Women in the Arts’ exhibition series, Women to Watch.


    Contact: info [at] leila-khoury.com

    • • •

    EDUCATION
    • 2020

      Master of Architecture (Emphasis in Interior Architecture) + Certificate in Historic Preservation. School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

  • 2015

    Bachelor of Fine Arts, Interdisciplinary Sculpture. Maryland Institute College of Art.

    • FEATURED PROJECTS
    • 2021

      Author, A Soulful Body: The Immigration and Placemaking of Arabs in Detroit. Published by Empress Editions (Cleveland, OH.)

  • 2020

    Creative Director, Cleveland Community Archives.

  • 2015

    Artist, Nizar Qabbani Memorial Sculpture. Syrian Cultural Garden, Cleveland, OH.

    • PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
    • 2020-22

      Creative Engagement Coordinator, SPACES. Cleveland, OH.

  • 2020-21

    Teaching Artist, Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH.

  • 2020

    Heritage Home Program Assistant, Cleveland Restoration Society. Cleveland, OH.

  • 2019

    Studio Assistant, Zachary A Design. Chicago, IL.

  • 2017

    Intern, Sadeer General Trading & Contracting Company. Subhan, Kuwait.
    Intern, Sultan Gallery. Subhan, Kuwait.

  • 2015-17

    Owner-Curator, ZAINA Gallery. 78th Street Studios, Cleveland, OH.

  • 2012-17

    Teaching Artist, Orange Art Center. Pepper Pike, OH.

  • 2015

    Studio Assistant, David Deming. Cleveland, OH.
    Teaching Assistant – Introduction to Sculpture, David Brooks. MICA, Baltimore, MD.

  • 2012-15

    Teaching Artist, MICA Community Art Partnership, Baltimore, MD.
    • Refugee Youth Project.
    • The Arc of Baltimore.
    • Baltimore Franciscan Center.

  • 2012

    Intern, The Morgan Art of Papermaking Conservatory. Cleveland, OH.
    Illustrator, In His Image by Mark de Veritas. Cleveland, OH.

    • ARTIST COHORTS AND COMMITTEES
    • 2020-22

      Artist and Curator Steering Committee, Cleveland Foundation Exhibition Corridor. Cleveland, OH.
      Boston Activation Project. Cuyahoga Valley National Park, OH.
      Fieldhouse Art Mural Selection Committee. West 117 Foundation, Inc. Cleveland, OH.

    SOLO EXHIBITIONS
    • 2016

      رائس البحر / the mermaids, The Sunroom. Cleveland, OH.
      Aleppo Bathhouse. The Vandal, Pittsburgh, PA.
      Concrete Images from a Syria Lost. The Trimont, Pittsburgh, PA.

  • 2015

    Nizar Qabbani Memorial Unveiling. Cleveland Cultural Gardens, Cleveland, OH.

    • SELECT GROUP EXHIBITIONS
    • 2022

      Enactive Architecture. Ministry of Culture and Tourism. Columbus, OH.

  • 2021

    Object Lounge. Collar Works Gallery. Troy, NY.
    Printed Matter Virtual Art Book Fair. New York City, NY.
    An Introduction. Current, Cleveland, OH.
    Buds Pt II. PM Threads, Cleveland, OH.

  • 2020

    A Public Trust. SPACES, Cleveland, OH.
    Small Works. Abattoir Gallery, Cleveland, OH.

  • 2019

    (dis)comfort zones: Underrepresentation and Invisibility in the Institution. Carroll University, Waukesha, WI.

  • 2018

    Women to Watch. National Museum for Women in the Arts, Washington DC.
    Women to Watch Ohio (via National Museum for Women in the Arts). Riffe Gallery, Columbus, OH.
    Tender House Project. McCormick Bridgehouse and Chicago River Museum, Chicago, IL.

  • 2017

    Sadeer Day Exhibition. Sadeer General Trading & Contracting Co., Subhan, Kuwait.

  • 2016

    Creative Fusion Artists Group Exhibition. Cleveland Collection Gallery, Cleveland, OH.
    A Little Bit of Tenderness. Data Gallery, Cleveland, OH.
    Aleppo Bathhouse. Market Square, Pittsburgh, PA. via World Refugee Day.Organized by Acculturation for Justice, Access and Peace Outreach (AJAPO).
    Cleveland Orchestra's Fridays @ 7 Concert Series. Severance Hall, Cleveland, OH.

  • 2015

    From the Dust. Article Gallery, Cleveland, OH.
    Shades of Grey. Creative Space, Cleveland, OH.
    Lab Bodies: Borders, Boundaries, and Barricades. Gallery CA, Baltimore, MD.
    Not from Here, Not from There. Gallery CA, Baltimore, MD.
    Protest Era 3. Annex 2e, Baltimore, MD.

  • 2013

    Ply. Middendorf Gallery, Baltimore, MD.

  • 2012

    ON/OFF. Cleveland Institute of Art, Cleveland, OH.
    Faculty Exhibition. Orange Art Center, Pepper Pike, OH.

    • CURATION
    • 2022

      Home Soon: An exhibition of art created by youth within the Cuyahoga County Detention Center alongside students of Mayfair Elementary School. Co-hosted with the Tamir Rice Foundation. SPACES, Cleveland, OH.

    • 2017

      By Force & By Choice: A Benefit for USCRI (US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants). ZAINA Gallery, Cleveland, OH.
      By Force & By Choice. By Amber N. Ford. ZAINA Gallery, Cleveland, OH.
      NESTING. By Danielle Muzina. ZAINA Gallery, Cleveland, OH.
      Polimetria Curva. By Luis Ituarte (via Creative Fusion). ZAINA Gallery, Cleveland, OH

  • 2016

    Selections: Photographs and prints from Nomadic Bookshelf. ZAINA Gallery, Cleveland, OH.
    Clay in CLE. By members of BRICK Ceramic + Design Studio. ZAINA Gallery, Cleveland, OH.
    Arti(fice)fact. By Ryan Rennie. ZAINA Gallery, Cleveland, OH.
    al-Jiran. By Leila Khoury. ZAINA Gallery, Cleveland, OH.
    Neighborhood Dances, a performance-based installation by Victoria Bradford. Curated by Megan Young in junction with Re|Marking arts event. ZAINA Gallery, Cleveland, OH.
    Kairos. By Mike Lombardy. ZAINA Gallery, Cleveland, OH.

  • 2015

    Kamins Island. By Leila Khoury. ZAINA Gallery, Cleveland, OH.
    Dirges/Chemical Ash. By Leila Khoury and Antoinette Nero. ZAINA Gallery, Cleveland, OH.
    Dirges. By Leila Khoury. ZAINA Gallery, Cleveland, OH.
    LANDSWEPT. By Leila Khoury and Steph Tarlton. Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore, MD.
    Antier; Ya'aburnee. By Leila Khoury and Erick Benitez. La Bodega Gallery, Baltimore, MD.
    100% YES (in collaboration with Refugee Youth Project). Current Space, Baltimore, MD.

    • AWARDS
    • 2020

      Nominee, AIA Chicago Foundation Student Design Competition

  • 2018

    Certificate of Recognition, President of the Ohio State Senate

  • 2017-20

    Dean’s Scholarship, School of the Art Institute of Chicago

  • 2017

    Ox-Bow Steketee Merit Scholarship
    Ox-Bow Work Scholarship

  • 2011-2015

    Merit Scholarship, Maryland Institute College of Art
    Dean’s List, Maryland Institute College of Art

    ARTIST RESIDENCIES
    • 2019

      Makers Circle. Marshall, NC.

  • 2016

    Creative Fusion. Cleveland Foundation, Cleveland, OH.

    • ARTIST TALKS, LECTURES, AND PANELS
    • 2021

      Women of Color Advancing Peace, Security & Conflict Transformation (WCAPS) - Virtual Conference, Artist Panel.

  • 2020

    Patricia Summerville Arts Professional Panel. Murray State University. Murray, KY.
    Lyric by the Lake Theater, Fairport Harbor, OH. (Cancelled due to COVID-19)

  • 2018

    Riffe Gallery, Columbus, OH.

  • 2017

    The King's Academy, Madaba, Jordan.

    • SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY
    • 2019

      Pillagers and Preservation, A Conversation with Leila Khoury, The Queer Arabs Podcast.

  • 2018

    Artist Spotlight: Leila Khoury, National Museum of Women in the Arts.
    The Artist Re-Creating and Preserving Palmyra in Metal, OZY Rising Stars.
    How Female Sculptors Are Pushing the Bounds of Metal as a Medium, Hyperallergic.
    Ohio Metal Sculpturs Crack Art World's Glass Ceiling, NPR Ideastream.
    Spotlight: Riffe Gallery - Women to Watch Ohio 2018 - Leila Khoury, The Ohio Channel.

  • 2016

    Aleppo Bathhouse: One American Artist's Personal Response to the Syrian Crisis, VICE.
    Artisans - Leila Khoury, Thomas Sawyer.
    Preserving Syria Through Art, Your Middle East.
    Cleveland Artist Spotlight: Leila Khoury, Arts Cleveland.

  • 2015

    A Dedication for the Son of Syria, Arab America.