Jumana Manna
Ghost (Cache Series)

Artist
Jumana Manna

Title
Ghost (Cache Series)

Year of creation
2022

Technique and dimensions
ceramic, concrete, lime, pigments, 93 x 61 x 40 cm

Year of acquisition
2024

Giving
consetetur sadipscing

Acquisition of the foundation

Acquired by the FRIENDS Foundation of the National Gallery of Contemporary Art

As part of her research into repressed traditional ways of life in the Levant, Jumana Manna has taken up the form of so-called “khabyas”, containers for storing grain in rural homes, in a series of sculptures. In the series of ceramics, which has been created since 2018, the Palestinian artist, who was born in the USA and now lives in Berlin, works with both cubic and anthropomorphic forms, which are presented on flat bases or gratings. The sculptures, which Jumana Manna produces in collaboration with craftsmen in Morocco, are covered with a traditional lime plaster that is colored with pigments. In a globalized economy, the cultivation, trade and optimization of grain as a staple food are subject to new rules that make previous practices seem obsolete. Jumana Manna also reflects in her films “Wild Relatives” from 2018 and “Foragers” from 2022, which parallel the sculptures of the “Cache” series were created. The sculpture “Ghost” is a reminder of the loss that comes with the destruction of traditional ways of life.

Gabriele Knapstein, Deputy Director and Collection Manager Hamburger Bahnhof – Nationalgalerie der Moderne, 2024