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Elana Mann was born on November 26, 1982 (40 years old) in Newton, Massachusetts. Elana Mann is an artist who analyzes the strength of the joint voice and the act of listening via sculpture, sound, and social engagement. Mann's work has been presented in galleries, public spaces, and museums in the U.S. and worldwide. She makes artwork that carries additional significant consciousness to our daily speaking and listening.

@elanamamma

Elana Mann was born and raised in Newton, Massachusetts. Elana identifies as a Jewish artist whose work is affected by culture. She adapts to Jewish topics of freedom and strength even as she engages in current movements such as abortion rights, climate justice, and Occupy. On December 30, 1994, in Brookline, Massachusetts, a gunman opened fire on two abortion clinics resulting in two dead and wounding others, causing Mann to think about what would happen if she got pregnant and sought help. Would she also get shot? A friend's family invited her to participate in a protest afterward of the attacks. Participating in this protest made her realize that being part of those movements could empower her. Since then, the topic of women's bodies, authority over one's body, and access to health care became important for Mann. In 2003, Mann received a Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) degree with honors from Washington University in St. Louis. In 2007, she received a Master of Fine Arts from the California Institute of the Arts in Valencia, CA. She currently lives in California with her spouse, designer Jean-Paul Leonard, and their two children.

Elana Mann's artwork links performance, sculpture, politics, and social engagement. One of the first exhibits by Elana Mann was "Searching for a Signal." It was part of 3 Solo Projects: Audrey Chan, Elana Mann, Chan & Mann at the Ben Maltz Gallery, Otis College of Art and Design, in Los Angeles. The exhibit analyzes sounds of warfare and politics via photography, sculpture, and video.^[1] Elana engages in movements such as abortion rights, climate justice, and Occupy. Through her work, Mann expresses her support for specific movements. A couple of months before the Occupy movement started, vocalist-performer Juliana Snapper and artist Elana Mann formed a group called ARLA with artist Vera Brunner-Sung, motivated by Deep Listening, a technique composer Pauline Oliveros developed where hearing is a kind of meditation. The group saw the Occupy movement as an opportunity to practice listening and scheduled listening parades.^[2] To show their support for the Occupy movement Elana Mann and Juliana Snapper brought poster-board signs with ears drawn on them and met with writers, artists, and others who joined them on a "listening walk" while holding the handcrafted ears in the air to indicate viewers that listening was occurring on. Mann stated that she noticed it was hard to hear at Occupy L.A. and was amazed by the speaking and listening techniques that were occurring in the movement.^[3] Elana Mann brought attention to myths of rape at the L.A. Art Show in 2017. Thirty men and women took part in a re-examination of Leslie Labowitz-Starus and Suzanne Lacy's survey of rape in Los Angeles. Every group member held a sign revealing a myth or fact about rape, integrating performance with demonstration and activism in Elana Mann and Audrey Chan's new understanding of the earlier feminist reaction to social inequity. The performers did not have to wear costumes and blindfolds, allowing them to interact more with the audience.^[4] In 2018, Mann co-edited "Propositional Attitudes: What do we do now?" which was published by Golden Spike Press. In 2019, Mann created her first two rattles, which said "yes" and "no." She created them because she states it was difficult for her to project her voice since she has a quiet voice. Mann wanted to make something that could produce many sounds instead of her yelling. Mann was inspired by the rich creativity culture overall in the Los Angeles demonstrations. Since then, Mann has created approximately 70 rattles. These rattles are filled with noisemaking items such as beads and connected to wooden handles. Mann's rattles helped intensify activism on topics such as abortion, the family separation policy, and the climate crisis.^[5] After the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, many people, including Elana Mann, gathered for the Bans Off Our Bodies demonstration. Thirty people joined Mann in the Shake, rattle, and roll in the Bans Off Our Bodies demonstration. She made several rattles for the protest, with expressions such as "help" and "change."^[6]

1. Talk through The Hand (2016) was a temporary mural outside of the Balik Art Gallery located in Culver City. Its message was to show that the voices of humans will survive against the odds.
2. The Assonant Armory (2016) is a solo exhibit at Commonwealth & Council, including performance and sculpture, and was done in solidarity with social justice activities.
3. Take a Stand Marching Band (2017) was a street demonstration that took place in Southern California. This demonstration used Elana Mann's works, such as the "Call to Arms" and "histophone."
4. Instruments of Accountability (2018) was a solo exhibit at Pitzer College Art Galleries, located in Claremont, California, with folk music, activism, and instruments.
5. Unidentified Bright Objects (2020) was a sequence of protest rattles, individually with different words, sounds, and shapes.
6. Sounds from the Swamp (2020) was a solo exhibit at Lawndale Art Center in Houston, Texas. The display showed performances and sculptures, which conveyed that people's voices are strong when the government suppresses them.
7. Year of Wonders, redux (2021) was an exhibit of demonstration instruments located at 18th Street Arts Center, Santa Monica, CA. The message of this exhibit is to describe the civil and social uneasiness that is declared by an international pandemic, racial inequity, and a presidential election that seemed to divide the United States.
8. Shake, rattle, roll (2022) is a protest with handcrafted ceramic rattles and activists. This iteration of Shake, Rattle, Roll occurred at the "Bans off our bodies" demonstration at Los Angeles City Hall. The Shake, Rattle, Roll project has extended to other neighborhoods nationally. Several groups have Mann's original rattles. Many communities make their own.
9. Lifelines (2023) was an art activity for International Women's Day 2023 created in cooperation with four Feminist activist collectives. Lifelines provides a visible representation of the critical need for a better caring tomorrow for women worldwide.
10. Hope is a Hammer (2023) was a performance made in partnership with Sharon Chohi Kim concerning more than eighty sculptural instruments. Hope is a Hammer encounters the silencing of females' voices and the effort for body freedom and suggests methods for joint empowerment.

2023: Visiting Artist at Pacific Northwest College of Art at Willamette University

2019: Visiting Artist at Vermont College of Fine Arts

2017: Thesis mentor at Otis College of Art and Design

2008-2016: Visiting Lecturer and thesis mentor for senior art majors at Scripps College

2013 & 2015:  Visiting Lecturer at Pitzer College

2013: Visiting Lecturer at the University of San Diego

2010 & 2012:  Thesis mentor at San Francisco Art Institute

2007 & 2009: Visiting Lecturer at the Art Institute of California

2008: Visiting Faculty at Cal Arts

• London College of Communication
• Getty Research Institute
• Center for Political Graphic
• Los Angeles Contemporary Archives
• Cerritos College