Bicep

The Palestinian artist Jumana Manna draws on the methods of anthropology to explore the complexities of cultural history. These sculptures have their starting point in the expulsion of residents from a Jerusalem neighbourhood where the Israeli government has undertaken archaeological excavations in quest of the City of David. The artist is interested here in the aura of representations of the past and political power’s control over bodies. The sculptures have the appearance of anatomical fragments, over-sized almost to the point of caricature. Dangerously poised on precarious supports, these artefacts see their potential monumentality thwarted.