B. 1991, Cairo, Egypt. Lives and works in Brooklyn, NY.
Manar Abdelmaaboud is an interdisciplinary artist whose work spans painting, collage, sculpture, installation, and performance. She examines power, control, and agency as they play out in the body. The distortions in her figures stem from the alienation and dissociation she has felt in ordinary interactions. A recurring question drives the work: does the body control the mind, or does the mind control the body? Each new project tests it, blurring the line between the two until it starts to feel unstable. Through this question, and the disorientation it brings, Abdelmaaboud also explores love and loss, and the shifting, contradictory nature of identity and belonging.
Abdelmaaboud trained as an artist in Cairo before earning her MFA at Parsons School of Design, where she received the Provost Scholarship. She has exhibited and performed in New York, and has given invited lectures, including a talk at the University of Pennsylvania.
Education
2018 MFA Fine Art, Parsons, The New School, New York
2011 BA Fine Art, The American University in Cairo, Cairo, Egypt
Group Shows
2025 Lost Lands, Ambrosio Gallery, New York, USA
2024 Between Hercules and a Butterfly, 62 Pier Carousel, New York, USA
2023 Ancient Futures, The Opening Gallery, New York, USA
2023 Fractured , Ambrosio Gallery, New York, USA
2022 New York Arab Festival, The Invisible Dog, New York, USA
2018 The Hybrid of Being, 25 East Gallery, New York, USA
2018 How an Artwork Should Speak, 25 East Gallery, New York, USA
2017 Politics and Lies, 25 East Gallery, New York, USA
2016 Naema’s Office is Bleeding Exhibition 2, Medrar Gallery, Cairo, Egypt
2015 Mohamed Abla Painting Competition, AUC, Cairo, Egypt
2011 470 Parallel Visions, Sharjah Gallery, AUC, Cairo, Egypt
Performances
2018 To Catch a Terrorist, Am Ufer Theater, Berlin, Germany
2018 To Catch a Terrorist, La Mama Theater, New York, USA
Lectures
2021 Art and Humor as Mediums of Protest, Department of Near Eastern Languages and
Civilizations, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA
Awards & Grants
2016 The Provost Scholarship, Parsons School of Design at The New School, New York, USA