Jumana Manna's SculptureCenter Installation Explores Palestinian Masculinity and Colonial Histories

Jumana Manna's exhibition at SculptureCenter features the 2010 video Blessed Blessed Oblivion, filmed in East Jerusalem car repair shops and gyms, alongside sculptures resembling architectural fragments. The video follows Ahmad, a Palestinian youth, as he engages in activities like weightlifting and smoking hash, with references to the Palestinian struggle such as an Israeli police report. Inspired by Kenneth Anger's 1963 film Scorpio Rising, Manna's work draws parallels between male subcultures in Los Angeles and East Jerusalem, focusing on masculinity through symbols like watches and bikes. Sculptures made from paving stones or egg cartons covered in plaster are titled after Israeli politicians or 19th-century British explorers, linking masculine identity to colonialism and occupation. The installation, which includes pieces like Roman or Byzantine Coin (2014), suggests that historical value is imposed through interpretation. Manna's transnational background—born in New Jersey, raised in East Jerusalem, educated in Oslo, and based in Berlin—informs her exploration of Palestinian experience through themes of agency and self-mythologizing. The show highlights how resistance becomes eroticized, connecting efficacy to self-worth, and uses Ahmad's portrayal to examine desire and projection in the context of political consequences. The article was published in the Summer 2014 issue of ArtReview.