04/06/2026
“At night, before starting to paint, I would open the window and look into the dark and feel the pulse of Beirut. I'd watch people on the street, and everyone out there became me, the street itself became me. I felt so connected to the city, but was its witness as well. I felt a connection to everything, and felt the violence inflicted on the people and the city on myself. ” - Seta Manoukian, in conversation with Kristine Khouri, Seta Manoukian: Painting in Levitation (2017).
Born in 1945 in Beirut, Lebanon, into a Lebanese-Armenian family, Seta Manoukian began drawing at an early age and studied privately with the renowned Lebanese painter Paul Guiragossian (1926 - 1993) between 1960 and 1962. In 1963, she won first prize in an art competition organized by the Italian Embassy, earning a three-month scholarship to study art in Perugia. She later enrolled at the Accademia di Belle Arti in Rome, where she remained for four years. After returning to Beirut in the late 1960s, she taught at the Lebanese University and, during the Lebanese Civil War, worked closely with children in underprivileged neighborhoods while maintaining an active painting practice shaped by strong political commitment and solidarity with the Palestinian cause. Works from this period depict fragmented urban scenes of Beirut in vivid colors, reflecting both the vitality and violence of the city. After moving to Los Angeles in 1985, her practice became increasingly introspective, informed by spirituality, meditation, and Buddhist philosophy. In 2005, she was ordained as a Buddhist nun under the name Ani Pema Tsultrim Drolma, and she continues to live and work in Los Angeles.
وُلدت سيتا مانوكيان عام ١٩٤٥ في عائلة لبنانية-أرمنية، وبدأت الرسم في سن مبكرة، كما تلقت دروسًا خاصة على يد بول غيراغوسيان بين عامي ١٩٦٠ و١٩٦٢. في عام ١٩٦٣، فازت بمنحة دراسية لدراسة الفن في إيطاليا، فالتحقت بأكاديمية الفنون الجميلة في روما وأقامت هناك أربع سنوات. بعد عودتها إلى بيروت، درّست في الجامعة اللبنانية وعملت مع الأطفال خلال الحرب الأهلية اللبنانية. وفي عام ١٩٨٥، انتقلت إلى لوس أنجلوس، حيث اتجهت أعمالها نحو التأمل والروحانية والفلسفات الشرقية. وفي عام ٢٠٠٥، رُسمت راهبة بوذية، ولا تزال تعيش وتعمل في لوس أنجلوس.
