Dena Al-Adeeb is an artist, writer and activist born in Baghdad, Iraq and is currently based in New York. Dena is a Ph.D. candidate in the Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies Department, Culture and Representation track with a focus in Arts Politics at New York University. Dena is also an Adjunct Faculty in the Department of Media, Culture and Communication at NYU and a Visiting Instructor in the Humanities and Media Studies Department and Pratt School of Architecture at the Pratt Institute.

Her work has been published in Alif: Journal of Comparative Poetics, The Color of Violence Anthology, Arab and Arab American Feminisms: Gender, Violence and Belonging, We Are Iraqis: Aesthetics and Politics in a Time of War Anthology, Encyclopedia of Women and Islamic Cultures, Contemporary Practices Journal, Art Dubai Journal, Kritiker Literary Journal, Hysterical Feminisms Periodical, Contact Sheet, Light Work Annual 2011, among others.

Dena’s work has been exhibited at the Worth Ryder Gallery at the University of California-Berkeley, Arab American National Museum, Museum of Latin American Art, Light Work Gallery, Art 13: London: Modern and Contemporary Art Fair, Headlands Center for the Arts, MECA at Mana Contemporary and Lelia Heller Gallery, The National Veterans Art Museum, Örebro International Videoart Festival, Darb 1718, Falaki Gallery, Mashrabia Gallery, Espcase Karim Francis Gallery, Bastakiya Art Fair, Galerie le Violon Bleu, Pro-Arts Gallery, among others. Dena has been a resident artist at Light Work and Mana Contemporary in New York.

Research Interests: Postcolonial Studies, Visual Culture, Media/Cultural Studies, Contemporary Art, Architecture, Archeology and Cultural Heritage, Women and Gender Studies, Memory and Trauma Studies, Performance Studies, Ethnic Studies, Transnationalism, Diaspora and Displacement, Mourning and Remembrance, Imperialism, Urban Politics, War Studies; Iraq War,
‘Ashura, Sacred Spaces, Death and Dying Rituals.