One must still have chaos in oneself to be able to give birth to a dancing star.
— Nietzsche
One must still have chaos in oneself to be able to give birth to a dancing star.
— Nietzsche
About Leila
Leila Kubba Kawash is an Iraqi artist whose work reflects a life shaped by movement, memory, and history. Born in Baghdad to an Iraqi father and a Swiss-American mother, Leila was educated in Iraq and England, earning a National Diploma of Art and Design from the Manchester School of Art and Architecture. She continued her artistic studies at the Corcoran College of Art in Washington, D.C., and St. Martins College in London, with a focus on painting and printmaking.
Over the course of her life, Leila has lived in the United Arab Emirates, Greece, England, the United States, Jordan, and for the past 18 years, Beirut, Lebanon — each place leaving its imprint on her artistic language. Her time in Beirut, in particular, deepened her connection to the cultural landscape of the region and broadened her perspective as an artist. Her paintings and mosaics have been exhibited internationally in over 29 solo exhibitions across Beirut, Amman, London, Athens, Washington D.C., Abu Dhabi, and beyond. Her work has also been part of traveling exhibitions across the United States, and is held in private and public collections worldwide.
She is the founder of Artspace Hamra in Beirut and currently works from her studio in the city, continuing to explore memory, place, and identity through her art.
My Art Book
More info coming soon!
Artist Statement
My art is shaped by the journey of my life — a journey that began in Iraq, where I was born, and has taken me across the Middle East, Europe, and the United States. No matter where I have lived, Iraq and its history has remained the underlying thread in my work. Each place I have called home has left its mark on my artistic language: the soft, geometric light of the desert in Abu Dhabi; the mythology and classical heritage of Greece; the changing seasons of Virginia; the fragmented, vibrant energy of Beirut.
At the heart of my practice is a dialogue between past and present, between personal memory and collective history. My early work was deeply influenced by the landscape and mythology of Mesopotamia, a way to hold onto the richness of Iraq’s cultural heritage amidst the experience of displacement. But over time, the urgency of the present — wars, loss, survival — began to enter my paintings more directly. I found myself painting the daily life of the Middle East, the endurance of women and families, and the quiet resilience that threads through conflict and change.
Whether working in painting, drawing, collage, or mosaic, I return again and again to the act of assembling: gathering fragments, textures, and layers to create something whole. My work is an attempt to hold together the multiplicity of lives, histories, and emotions — to create coherence out of dissonance, beauty out of brokenness.
Looking back, I see how closely my work follows the contours of my life. Each painting carries within it the places I have lived, the people I have met, and the histories I continue to carry with me.
My Studio
