Zoe Cinel

Zoe Cinel is an interdisciplinary artist, curator, and educator from a Mediterranean culture. Through art they build community around human experiences that are isolating and complex to navigate, such as chronic illness and immigration. Starting from their personal journey as an O1B immigrant and a chronically ill artist, they strive to connect with others and produce social change. Through the lens of disability justice and immigration, their current research explores non-binary, interconnected, intersectional and interdisciplinary ways of healing and care. Collaboration and community-building is fundamental in Cinel’s practice. Since 2017, they have been a member of CarryOn Homes, an artistic collective dedicated to centering stories of immigration to Minnesota. More recently they are serving as a consultant with the Disability Justice Collective MN. Cinel’s awards and achievements include a 2023-2024 University of Minnesota Liberal Arts Hub Residency with the collaborative project “Sound Stories”, 2023-2024 MRAC Arts Impact for Individual Grant supporting the event series “Conversations about Care,” and 2022-2023 residency with Second Shift Studio. Their artistic and curatorial work has been featured by institutions such Walker Art Center, Mana Contemporary Chicago, Rochester Art Center, Gordon Parks Gallery, among others. After graduating with a MFA in Visual Studies in 2018 from MCAD, they are now a Visiting Professor at Carleton College and a Community Faculty at Metropolitan State University in St. Paul.