Jumana Manna (born 1987) is a Palestinian visual artist. Born in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, she lived in

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

and

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...

, and now resides in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

. She holds U.S. and Israeli citizenship. A multidisciplinary visual artist, Manna works in multiple mediums, including installation art and

film A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...

. Manna has produced work featured at the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...

, MoMA PS1, The Moving Museum, the

Museum van Hedendaagse Kunst Antwerpen The Museum of Contemporary Art in Antwerp ( nl, Museum van Hedendaagse Kunst, commonly abbreviated as ''M HKA'', previously ''MuHKA'') is the contemporary art museum of the city of Antwerp, Belgium. Its current director is Bart de Baere. Overview ...

, and the

Wexner Center for the Arts The Wexner Center for the Arts is the Ohio State University's "multidisciplinary, international laboratory for the exploration and advancement of contemporary art". The Wexner Center opened in November 1989, named in honor of the father of Limite ...

Early life and education

Manna was born in 1987, in

Princeton, New Jersey Princeton is a municipality with a borough form of government in Mercer County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It was established on January 1, 2013, through the consolidation of the Borough of Princeton and Princeton Township, both of whi ...

. She received a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

degree from the

Oslo National Academy of the Arts The Oslo National Academy of the Arts ( no, Kunsthøgskolen i Oslo, ''KHiO'') is a university college in Oslo, Norway, that provides education in visual arts, design and performing arts. It is one of two public institutes of higher learning in ...

and a

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

degree in aesthetics and politics at the California Institute of the Arts.

Career

Manna's work explores the effects of preservation practices in the fields of agriculture, science and law. Manna's 2015 film ''A Magical Substance Flows Into Me'' focuses on

Robert Lachmann Robert Lachmann (28 November 1892 – 8 May 1939) was a German ethnomusicologist, polyglot (German, English, French, Arabic), orientalist and librarian. He was an expert in the musical traditions of the Middle East, a member of the Berlin Schoo ...

's quest to create an

archive An archive is an accumulation of historical records or materials – in any medium – or the physical facility in which they are located. Archives contain primary source documents that have accumulated over the course of an individual or ...

of "oriental music" in

The Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of the ...

screened ''A Magical Substance Flows Into Me'' in 2022. In 2017, Manna released her second film ''Wild Relatives,'' which focused on the Svalbard Global Seed Vault in Norway and its relationship with the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) and ICARDA's stored seeds from the Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley amidst the backdrop of the Syrian Revolution''.'' In 2021, her exhibition “Thirty Plumbers in the Belly" was on display at the

. In 2022, Manna's film ''Foragers (2022)'' was featured in the Toronto Biennial of Art exhibition “What Water Knows, the Land Remembers.”'''' ''Foragers'' examines how Israel's declaration that za'atar and akkoub are protected species impacted

Palestinians Palestinians ( ar, الفلسطينيون, ; he, פָלַסְטִינִים, ) or Palestinian people ( ar, الشعب الفلسطيني, label=none, ), also referred to as Palestinian Arabs ( ar, الفلسطينيين العرب, label=non ...

. From September 2022 to August 2023, Manna had her first major American museum exhibition titled "''Break, Take Erase, Tally,''" at MoMA PS1. The exhibition was then brought to be displayed at the

References

1987 births Living people 21st-century American women artists American emigrants to Germany American people of Palestinian descent California Institute of the Arts alumni Environmental artists Oslo National Academy of the Arts alumni 21st-century Palestinian women artists 21st-century Palestinian artists 21st-century Israeli women artists American installation artists Israeli installation artists Palestinian installation artists American women installation artists Women installation artists Filmmakers from New Jersey Israeli filmmakers Palestinian film people Palestinian women film directors People from Princeton, New Jersey {{Palestine-artist-stub