Today we’d like to introduce you to Manal Deeb.
Hi Manal, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
Since I was a teenager in Ramallah, Palestine, art was a form of communication, an escape from living under occupation and a resort to an expressive means against social boundaries. I immigrated to the US when I was 18 years old. Against the norm and will of the family, with the support of my then fiancé, I started studying Art at Oakton community college in the suburbs of Chicago. My passion started forming around human figures and faces in different art mediums such as drawing, painting and photography.
Taking it a step further, I joined the University of Illinois’s studio arts program in which my art wings started spreading beyond my imagination. Creativity started working toward expressive identity and homeland, Palestine.
Many many years went along while I got busy being a wife and a mom. Moving to Fairfax, Virginia in early 2000’s provided me a sense of a re-start, an ignition toward more into self therapy. I attended George Mason’s interdisciplinary program and studied art & psychology. My studies built another level for the art; a “self therapy art”!
Around 2008, an internal decision was made, and my husband played a great role into making it a reality, “I must create art” to keep me in an inner shape I can contribute to this world.
A new journey started then until now, in which I experienced many successes that made me believe in the message my art portraits. And now, you can see me in my art www.ygalleri.com
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Never a smooth road!
I would not call them struggles, but rather “challenges”.
From the start, “Art” was not appreciated as a study field in the Arab societies and families, more even from an Islamic and female sides of the formula. Those initial challenges were fuels for my persistence and thrive to fly beyond the boundaries and limits.
Challenges continued in many forms and shapes throughout my journey, nevertheless, the biggest challenge was the loss of belonging, living away from home. That challenge haunts me day and night. I always need to balance that feeling of regret with the continuation.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I call myself a hybrid being both here (in America) and there (in Palestine).
I am well known for mixed media and layering metaphoric art. I am proud for the recognition my art has and still receiving from the different cultures. I may have the strong tendency to relate my art to make my Palestinian case appear and be thought of, but to my surprise, my art also contributed to “bridging between religions”; “feminism”; “freedom” and “beauty”.
As one curator has rightfully put it: “Manal Deeb’s art fuses beauty with longing to explicate Palestinians’ lifelong yearning. Her multi-media work is based on the principle, “first you must look, before you can see.” The audience is invited to look deeply into the beauty of her work to understand the truths hidden therein.”
We’d love to hear about any fond memories you have from when you were growing up?
OMG, too many beautiful memories in Ramallah, Palestine. But of course, the most favorite is playing over the branches of our fig tree in our home backyard alone, or with my siblings. I believe that memory is the cornerstone of my soul.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.ygalleri.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ygalleri/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ArtistManalDeeb
