“The Exxxxxtraordinary Journey”, 2021
Digital print on cardstock
3.5"x5.5"
www.cinelzoe.myportfolio.com/news
Instagram: @zcinel
Zoe Cinel is an interdisciplinary artist, curator, and educator from the Mediterranean, currently based in Mni Sota Makoce, the traditional homeland of the Dakota and Anishinaabe peoples, as well as Indigenous communities from other Native nations. Through her art, Zoe aims to foster community around complex human experiences that often lead to feelings of isolation. Drawing on her personal journey as an O-1B immigrant and a chronically ill artist, she collaborates with others to promote social change and explore nonbinary, interconnected, and interdisciplinary approaches to healing and care. Community-building lies at the heart of Zoe's practice. Since 2017, she has been involved with CarryOn Homes, an artistic collective dedicated to centering the stories of immigrants in Minnesota. In 2024, she collaborated with Amplify MN: A Disability Justice Collective on "The Art of Disability Justice Now," a group exhibition grounded in disability justice principles. Additionally, she curated "Chronicles of the Chronic," an exhibition showcasing contemporary artworks that celebrate the disabled and chronically ill community while fostering dialogue among medical professionals, artists, and patients. Zoe has received several notable awards, including the 2024-2025 MCAD Jerome Fellowship, the 2023-2024 University of Minnesota Liberal Arts Hub Residency for her collaborative project "Sound Stories," and an MRAC Arts Impact for Individual Grant to support the event series "Conversations about Care." She also completed a residency with Second Shift Studio from 2022 to 2023, among others. Her artistic and curatorial work has been exhibited at various institutions, including the Walker Art Center, Mana Contemporary Chicago, the Rochester Art Center, and the Gordon Parks Gallery. In 2015, Zoe graduated from ISIA Florence with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Industrial Design and holds a Master’s in Visual Studies from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. She has taught at Carleton College, Metropolitan State University, and the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. Currently, she serves as the Curator at the Rochester Art Center in Rochester, MN.
