Leila Hekmat

Leila Hekmat, born in Los Angeles in 1981, is an American artist who has lived and worked in Berlin since 2011. Her artistic practice operates at the intersection of performance, opera, and visual art. In her work, she explores, among other things, issues of gender, desire, social roles, and the crossing of boundaries. Hekmat’s works have been shown internationally in museums, exhibition venues, and on stages, including the Gropius Bau, the HAU – Hebbel am Ufer, the Haus am Waldsee, and the Schinkel Pavillon in Berlin; the Museum Ludwig in Cologne; as well as Glasgow International and the FIAC in Paris. Her recent works include Female Remedy / Symptom Recital: Music for Wild Angels (2022), Gloriette (2024), and Roses Rising (2026). Hekmat studied photography at the Parsons School of Design in New York and earned her Master of Fine Arts in 2010 from the Milton Avery Graduate School of the Arts at Bard College. She has received grants from the Hauptstadtkulturfonds, the Stiftung Kunstfonds, and the Akademie der Künste as part of the NEUSTART KULTUR initiative, among others.