Born in Tehran (Iran), Leila Zelli lives and works in Montréal. She holds an MFA (2020) and a BFA (2016) in Visual and Media Arts from Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM). Zelli is interested in the relationship that we have with the ideas of "others” and “elsewhere” and more specifically within this geopolitical space often referred to by the questionable term “Middle East.” Her work has been shown, among others, at the Bradley Ertaskiran Gallery (2020), at the Conseil des arts de Montréal (2019-2020), at Galerie de l’UQAM (2020, 2019, 2015) and at the Foire en art actuel in Québec (2019). Her works are part of the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts collection, the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec’s Prêt d’oeuvres d’art collection, the Musée d’art contemporain de Baie-Saint-Paul collection and the collection of the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec. Leila was awarded the prestigious 2021 Claudine and Stephen Bronfman Fellowship in Contemporary Art.
