Manuela Thames is a fine art photographer residing in Saint Paul, Minnesota with her husband and two children. Originally from Germany, she moved to the US in 2004 when she married her husband, who is American. Her background is in nursing and alternative health, but around 2008 she began to focus solely on photography after two life-changing events happened within one year, the death of her brother and the birth of her first son.
Her work consists largely of self-portraits as she aims to explore the brokenness of humanity, the struggles of loss and grief, her personal experiences with generational trauma, mental health and the consequences of control, abuse and manipulation.
Within that she continues to explore the human ability of coping, the strength that evolves out of suffering and our common desire for healing and journey towards wholeness.