Edward Hillel was born in Baghdad, Iraq and grew up in Montreal, Canada. He studied political science and philosophy at McGill University and spent several years as a community organizer before entering the art world. He has divided his time between Paris, Montreal and New York since 1990. In 2006, he opened an art space in Harlem. Autodidact, his multidisciplinary production ranges from photography, video, prints, drawings and sculpture, to hybrid "sites", installations employing varied media, archives and found materials. The artworks interweave public and private spaces with personal and collective memories, and often result from projects anchored in real time, focusing on people and places, involving collaborations with creative professionals, and include an educational component.