Born in London, Zena el Khalil grew up in Nigeria and England. After studying at the American University of Beirut, she received a Master of Fine Arts from the School of Visual Arts in New York in 2002, and is now based in Beirut.

El Khalil works with painting, installation, performance, mixed media, writing, and collage. She tackles the themes of violence and gender, using objects she finds throughout Beirut (such as photocopied images of militiamen and politicians, plastic toys, keffiyehs, fabric, beads, glitter). She subverts these found objects to create very colourful works that seek to provoke a reflection on the political and social situations in Lebanon, without taking any evident position.

El Khalil is also active in associations that promote emerging Arab artists, such as xanadu* and Al-Jisser. During the July 2006 war, she maintained a blog where she chronicled daily life in Beirut. Her first novel, Beirut I Love You, was published in 2008 and translated in many languages. Since 2001, El Khalil has taken part in group exhibitions in the United States, Europe, Africa, Australia and across the Middle East. Her solo exhibitions were held in Beirut, London, Munich (Germany), and Turin (Italy), in galleries as well as public spaces such as the Waldensian Church of Turin.