ABOUT MANUELA

Born in 1996 in Caracas, Venezuela
Lives and works between Amsterdam and Barcelona

Manuela Benaim is a multidisciplinary artist who works with the human body as both subject and material. She delves into the intimate, vulnerable, unspoken experiences that shape the shared yet individual human condition.
At the core of her layered practice is the creation of artificial skins, onto which she meticulously crafts the intrinsic characteristics of each person. These silicone forms become the foundation for her experiments, as she re-contextualizes the human body across a diverse range of media, including altered objects, performance, dance, and photography.

By enabling out-of-body relationships, her work challenges the boundaries of identity, showing how it can be upheld and diluted. In her exploration of gender, Benaim reveals it as a modern conceptual invention, fluid and malleable. “Just like rubber,” she says, social constructs can stretch, reshape or expand, inviting viewers to reconsider the physical and conceptual limits of their bodies. Her work serves as a poignant reminder of our fragility and impermanence, yet also celebrates our uniqueness and interconnectedness. Each piece is a totem of singularity and oneness, contributing to a broader tapestrymof human diversity and experience.
"To be human, is  both singular and plural. "
LETS WORK TOGETHER

EXHIBITIONS

SOLO EXHIBITIONS
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2026
HOM(M)E -- awakening memories of migration
Het Salon, Amsterdam
BETA Contemporary, Barcelona (forthcoming)
2023
OSMOSIS, Door Open Space, Amsterdam

GROUP SHOWS
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2025
Body Archive, Kristin Hjellegjerde, Berlin
Habitar el cuerpo, Sorondo Projects, Barcelona
2024
Echoes of Paradise, Jane Lombard Gallery, New York
2023
Shapeshifting, W139, Amsterdam
51 años de desnudo, Spazio Zero, Caracas
2022
Próxima, Hacienda La Trinidad, Caracas
2021
Interludio, GBG Arts, Caracas
Luis Ángel Duque, Galería Freites, Caracas
2020
Textile Art Exhibition, Daesan Museum of Art, South Korea
2019
STAARTA, New York
2018
The Philadelphia Furniture Show, 23rd Street Armory,Philadelphia
Next Generation Crafts, The Kimmel Center for Performing Arts, Philadelphia
2017
Back to Nature, The Kimmel Center, Philadelphia
Chiaroscuro, Solmssen Court, Philadelphia
2016
First Look, Gallery One, The University of the Arts,Philadelphia

AWARDS

2024
AFK – Amsterdams Fonds voor de Kunst, Amsterdam
AMARTE FONDS, Amsterdam
2023
Arsenal Residency, Metz, France
2022
Door Foundation Residency, Amsterdam
TRANS Residency with Ernesto Artillo, Cabo de Gata, Spain
2020
Rosalie Borowsky Belkin Award
Florence Whistler Fish Award -Honorable mention
2017
Haystack School of Crafts residency, Maine
William Daley Fellow Award, Haystack School of Crafts

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