Jumana Manna, For Those Who Like the Smell of Burning Tires, 2010. Public sculptural installation at Kunsthall Oslo. Courtesy of the artist
Jumana Manna (b.1987 in New Jersey, USA, lives and works in Oslo)'s work explores the construction of human identity in relation to historical narratives and subcultural or athletic communities. Her videos are attempts at weaving together portraits of morally dubious characters or events, and her sculptural practice entails a disfiguring of familiar objects, de-bunked from their designated function and re-presented in a state of abjection or defeat. Manna was educated at Bezalel Academy of Arts in Jerusalem, Israel; the National Academy of the Arts in Oslo, Norway; and CalArts in Los Angeles, CA, USA. Recent exhibitions and screenings include the Film Society at Lincoln Center in New York, NY, USA; Postmasters Gallery in New York, Toronto Film Festival in Toronto, Canada; Vox Populli in Philadelphia, PA, USA; Kunsthall Charlottenborg in Copenhagen, Denmark; and Petach Tikva Museum in Israel. She is short listed for the Young Artist Award in Palestine (2012). Her upcoming exhibitions include Kunsthall Oslo, CRG Gallery in New York, Young Artists’ Society in Oslo and The Company in Los Angeles.