Mamoun Nukumanu: Flower Nest, PEACE ON EARTH, and Emperor of Gladness

This installation presents a selection of living sculptures by interdisciplinary artist Mamoun Nukumanu (Earth, b. 1995, Southampton, NY). To create these works, the artist sources strips of dried bamboo—an invasive species on Long Island—from local sites and weaves them into biomorphic forms. These serve as scaffolding for the trees that Nukumanu plants around them, training their branches along the bamboo latticework so that they gradually take on the swells, dips, and spherical curves of the structure below. Working with various plant species, Nukumanu aims to create an organic architecture that supports life and is constantly evolving, shaped by human creativity, natural forces, and the trees themselves. “I am focused on becoming-with trees through the creation of site-specific sculptures utilizing local materials,” explains Nukumanu. “We dream reality into being, and my dream is a reality composed of multilayered living infrastructures that unify human and environmental health in the creation of symbiotic harmonies.” His living sculptures—which have also been permanently installed at other local sites like Folly Tree Arboretum in Springs, the Hayground School in Bridgehampton, and The Ranch in Montauk—offer spaces for gathering and become habitats for birds, insects, and other animals.

Born and raised in the artistic community of Eastern Long Island, Nukumanu feels compelled to “use the resources of this place for good.” He sees his work as a collaboration between himself and the biomaterials he works with, including mycelium, microalgae, and bacterial cellulose. His philosophy is informed by the utopian designs of architect Buckminster Fuller, Agnes Denes’s environmental installations, and the abstract sculptures and playgrounds of Isamu Noguchi, among others. Much like these figures, Nukumanu blends art with design, architecture, and science to reimagine humanity’s relationship to and place within nature, advocating for “mutual recognition and entanglement.” A graduate of NYU Gallatin, Nukumanu worked for the ecological architecture and design nonprofit Terreform ONE in Brooklyn, NY, for several years before transitioning into artmaking. He was a NARS Foundation artist-in-residence on Governors Island, NY, in 2022, and was selected for the artist fellowship at Socrates Sculpture Park, Long Island City, NY, in 2024. His work has been exhibited at Guild Hall, East Hampton, NY; the Leiber Collection, Bridgehampton, NY; Socrates Sculpture Park, Long Island City, NY; and Tripoli Gallery, Wainscott, NY; among others.

Flower Nest, PEACE ON EARTH, and Emperor of Gladness were installed in the Parrish Meadow in August 2025 as part of the PARRISH USA250 exhibition Regeneration: Long Island’s History of Ecological Art and Care (February 22–June 14, 2026).

Exhibition Support
The Parrish Art Museum’s programs are made possible, in part, by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature, and by the property taxpayers from the Southampton School District and the Tuckahoe Common School District.