Born and raised in Beirut, Tanbak left her native country at the age of eighteen to study Spanish literature in Madrid and international relations at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. She later settled in Paris, and is now based in Beirut.

Tanbak initially sought to become an author. However, the Lebanese civil war left her profoundly marked, and she found that she could best deal with her traumas through the power of the image. She thus embarked on an artistic career as an autodidact, painting and creating installations using every object she could find that inspired her. Tanbak’s choice of materials thus corresponds to her desire to encompass all aspects of her daily life. She exploits the expressive possibilities of paint, watercolour, paper, glue, but also of more unusual materials such as trash or old buttons. Her art combines a variety of medias and textures to inspire a reflection on the eternal cycle of life and death, to provoke a meditation on the real meaning of art and show how a human body can move and relate to others. 

Tanbak regularly exhibits in Paris, London and Beirut, in individual and collective exhibitions.