Manuela no. 1, (2024)

About The Work 

‘Manuela no. 1’ (2024) is a site-specific mural, specially commissioned for Manuela, New York. Spanning the entire surface of the restaurant’s staircase and basement walls, ‘Manuela no. 1’ depicts geometric and automatic shapes rendered in Manuela’s signature palette of yellow and black. Recalling both the striking fabrics worn by women in her native Somalia, and the swirling, slanted flourishes of Arabic calligraphy, Uman’s mural is immersive; a joyous and beguiling mix of color and line. Pictorial arrangements are built with varied mark making methods; Uman uses dry brushes and her fingers to create a surface that unsettles the distinction between painting and drawing. 

About The Artist 

Uman (b.1980, Somalia) is a multidisciplinary artist based in Upstate New York. Her technicolor large-scale paintings draw from a rich and multicultural childhood, as well as vivid dreamscapes and the Islamic calligraphy she learned as a child. Born to Somali parents and raised in Kenya, Uman emigrated to Denmark as a teenager, and later to New York as a young adult. She is renowned for creating joyous and intricate compositions that are comprised of abstract, geometric and symbolic motifs. Uman’s work has been exhibited both nationally and internationally.