MARION EMMANUELA MANIOU

Marion Emmanuela Maniou (Mañu) is a Greek Collage Artist & Curator, with a background in Poetry and Philosophy, working in the fields of Visual Arts, Cultural Management and Curating. Cutting out pieces from magazines, she reinvents their functionality upon the working surface. Mainly inspired by the 20th Century’s artistic movements such as Dada, Surrealism and Pop Art, as well as Critical Theory and Postmodernism, her work explores concepts of human existence where the decomposed body, regains its lost parts, whilst empowering femininity.

Marion Emmanuela is the curator of the collaborative art project Transition Lands, exploring the notions of identity and exclusion in historic sites all over Greece, that were once used as confinement places.

Her work is presented on Artfinder and is also a curated directory member of All SHE Makes, a global art organization working towards increasing visibility for women artists.

Artist’s Statement 

I create hand-cut paper collages, wishing to explore the unlimited possibilities of the collage medium, by combining disparate elements, colors, shapes and textures and by experimenting with various techniques. 

The sources of the pictorial material I collect, include vintage and modern fashion magazines, illustrated books and newspapers found in second-hand bookshops and flea markets, yet some others spotted on the road.    

Ι find my inspiration in artworks, reflections, films, verses, dreams, phantasies, radiant beings, nature and cats. 

My main intention is that my collages evoke emotions to the viewers and stimulate their imagination through unexpected, intriguing and surreal images, using vibrant colors, geometrical curvaceous shapes and symbols.

Women’s body parts, or the indication of female presence are an integral part of my work, as I see in the female body the absolute incarnation of beauty, creation and life. 

The process of collaging brings me back to the magic of childhood, allowing me to play, relax, dream, make new discoveries and feel enchanted by them. 

As the collage process has been a healing and liberating process to me, I hope that the viewers can derive an uplifting and euphoric experience.