Born in Beirut, Lebanon. 1945
Works and Lives in Los Angeles, U.S.A
Born into an Armenian family, artist Seta Manoukian grew up in Beirut, Lebanon. She began to draw at an early age and won the first prize in an art competition organized by the Italian Embassy at the age of seventeen and was sent to Perugia, Italy, for three months to study art. After that she enrolled at the Accademia di Belle Arti in Rome where she received her masters degree . She returned to Beirut in 1967, after spending four years in Italy. During this period, Manoukian, surrounded by artists, writers and journalists, started becoming aware of the grave political problems that her country and the Middle East were facing.
When the war began in 1975, Manoukian was teaching at the Lebanese University. She began volunteering in poor neighborhoods to teach children how to draw and paint. The children’s paintings and drawings were made into two books “War Through the Eyes of Lebanese Children” Published in 1977, and “Taches Rouge Et Bleu.” Ten years through the civil war, Manoukian moved to Los Angeles and joined the Sherry Frumkin Gallery in Santa Monica. Still shaken by the war, Manoukian’s work revolved around themes of displacement and gradually evolved toward themes around healing from the war. She later transitioned into more organic shapes inspired by her increasing spirituality.
In 2000, she traveled to Sri-Lanka to study Buddhist philosophy and meditation and decided to stay and further delve into Dharma, the teachings of Buddha. Manoukian has since become a Buddhist nun known as Ani Pema Drolma. She continued to paint and exhibit her work after a short break to devote her time to studying Buddhism.
In 2017 the book about her work ‘Painting in Levitation’ was published by Kaph Books.
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