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Anna Manila | Artist, Photographer & Creative Director

@annamanila_

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Art, motherhood & the beautiful mess of becoming.
Life + work on the Oaxacan coast.
Founder @fouraethers

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My mind is quiet as the paint flows
I am subtly guided by the muse of the moment
Allowing myself the pleasure of creation
With brushes as extensions of my heart
In art, I find peace and it permeates from the canvas
I am grateful for all my art patrons who connect with that peace.

Paintings as peace offerings 💕🙏🏽🕊

message me when you are ready for peace ✨ by @annamanila_

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4 years ago

This collection is a story inspired by the mythical tale of seasons through the trials of a mother and her daughter. It is a reflection of the cycles of womb bearers.

All four seasons we repeat every month in our own individual rhythms, how magical women are…

Women are mirrors of nature, of our earth mother
The more we connect with ourselves, the deeper our understanding and connection to nature herself.

This collection is a celebration of women. Of the deepest reverence for a mother’s love and the simultaneous grief of unconditionally loving and letting go. taken in San Diego, California by @annamanila_

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3 years ago

A month ago, I gave myself thirty days to bring two long-held ideas into physical form

I imagined dividing my attention evenly.

Definitely did not happen the way I thought it would.

Four Aethers Collection I swept me off my feet and gave my soul something it so desperately needed

I found myself sketching whenever I could, I was daydreaming about adorning the body again. I was doing some thing I never thought I would have time for with two toddlers. BUT HERE WE ARE!

Sketches became patterns. Patterns became samples. Samples met the body and began to evolve.

Meet FORM 001 | the first prototype

Not finished, but tangible. I can touch it, wear it and understand what needs to change. The fit is still being refined. The final fabrics are still being sourced.

The second idea is moving at a different rhythm. Its identity is still forming, but I’m clearer about which objects I want to make first. I can’t wait to birth this next.

One idea found its body.
The other found its direction.

And somewhere between fittings, motherhood and everyday life, I made room for something I’ve wanted to do for years.

The deadline did its job.

30 Days to Form.

FORM 001
FOUR AETHERS · COLLECTION I

The Form remains. The expression changes. taken in Puerto Escondido, Oaxaca by @annamanila_

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2 days ago

Y’ALLLLL The idea has officially left the page✨🤍

The first sample is here AND with it, the first round of changes. Lowering the back. Removing some volume through the front. Refining the ties. Learning what the garment wants to become once it meets a body.

It isn’t finished. But it exists and I couldn’t be more excited to share more as the collection comes together

30 Days to Form — The First Fitting 🏵️ taken in Puerto Escondido, Oaxaca by @annamanila_

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14 days ago

Ideas do not become a body of work if they never leave the mind.

I’ve spent so much time imagining, sketching, collecting references and waiting to feel completely ready.

But readiness is not the same as creation.

So I’m giving myself 30 days to bring one piece into form, from the first marks on paper to something I can hold, wear and call real.

This is the beginning.

30 Days to Form — 01: The Declaration

Come watch it take form ✨ taken in Puerto Escondido, Oaxaca by @annamanila_

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a month ago

I realized I’ve been living without deadlines for too long.

Multitasking with two toddlers means living with 1,000 tabs open at all times.

😂 But somewhere inside the motherhood madness, there’s a method.

I used to work in fashion design and creative industries where the date was the date. You made the thing or you didn’t. And if you didn’t, you were out.

Somewhere along the way, I lost that.

And without deadlines, my perfectionist has had way too much room to overthink, reconsider, tweak and wait until I’m “ready.”

All the things that keep a creative idea safely in my head instead of out in the world.

So as I begin building these two clothing collections, I’m bringing deadlines back into my creative practice.

This is also a little rebellion against that internal good girl who thinks everything needs to be perfect before anyone gets to see it.

We’re making the thing anyway 😝

Funny enough, both of my babies were born on the 30th. Maybe 30 is just my number. 😂

30 days to gestate a vision and give it form.

October 15.
Two collections.
One finished piece from each.

Let’s see what I can birth 🌀 taken in Puerto Escondido, Oaxaca by @annamanila_

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a month ago

YA FEEL ME?? by @annamanila_

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2 months ago

Some earlier versions of me still live in New York.

In brushstrokes, color palettes and the questions I was asking before I knew where life would take me.

These paintings were created during a different chapter WAY before motherhood, before landing in Mexico, before many of the transformations that would follow.

Looking at them now feels a little like meeting former selves.

Somewhat recognizable.
Familiar at a glance yet somehow distant.

There are pieces of who I was embedded in each of them, and I find myself grateful for the evidence.

Proof that even when we change, parts of us remain.

A small collection of original works from this archive are currently still in NYC.

If one speaks to you, my DMs are open. Abstract painting in a wooden frame with tones of pinks, teal and orange in a living room setting taken in New York City by @annamanila_

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4 months ago

I used to think building a creative life would look dramatic.

Instead, it looks like answering emails over matcha.
Sketching ideas during nap time.
Going to the gym when I can.
Packing camera batteries.
Picking up shells with my kids.
Dreaming a little bigger every week.

Turns out, this is what building a life feels like.

Not one giant leap.

A thousand ordinary moments that slowly become extraordinary.

Come, let’s be friends. 🤍

#MakingArtOfYourLife #matchaholic #sahm #mompreneur #momlife💕 by @annamanila_

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2 months ago

There were moments I could not see the path ahead, only the next breath…

In that darkness I learned to trust the gentle tug of something divine

It felt like the whispers of my ancestors were always leading me back to my heart

I remember one winter dawn, painting in half-light, feeling both lost and held at once. It was as if each brushstroke said, ‘surrender…you are guided’

The tears welled behind my eyes and as they were streaming down my face, I felt so much relief with the canvas in front of me.

This was always my happy place.

The studio for me was my temple of refuge and restoration.

This painting became a prayer for courage and clarity.

Even with the loss I felt, there was an immense love there and an even greater one growing within. I had no idea my daughter was already growing within me when I started to paint this collection.

In the myth, even in the underworld, there are seeds of spring waiting.

In my life, even in grief, there were seeds of faith

Sometimes we walk forward in trust, even without light – and still, the path forms under our feet. I’m grateful for the faith that guided me here, to a place where I can share these pieces with you.

Each piece is an emotional landscape,
created for collectors who honor the sacred seasons of life.
Myth-Inspired Art
acrylic on canvas by @annamanila_

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a year ago

Motherhood shifted everything for me.

I put myself in the backseat, twice. In less than a year 🫠

In hindsight, I was reborn twice as a mother, and the last three years have been a deep initiation

a rite of passage only women traverse

Everything, everywhere, all at once 🤣 that’s the Scorpio life, baby.

Somewhere in between, I got lost in breastfeeding, diapers, teething, and tantrums. There was beauty and pain in it all.

I thought pleasure was something to earn—waiting on the other side of enough work, healing, productivity, feeling good enough and worthy of it
I thought I had to come last to deserve it.

But lately, I wonder if pleasure is a form of remembering.

The sun on your skin.

Your favorite song at the right moment.

The first sip of your chai latte at your favorite cafe or a beer at 10am because why not 😎

Salty air and sand under your feet.

Laughing so hard you snort🤭

Dancing at 2am by yourself because you can’t fucking sleep

That perfume and that dress you’ve been saving.

The things that remind you you’re not just here to survive. you’re here to fucking live.

Maybe that’s why pleasure feels nourishing. not because it’s indulgent, but because it brings us back to ourselves ❤️‍🔥

What’s one pleasure you’ve been saving for “someday”? 🌊 taken in Zicatela, Puerto Escondido, Oaxaca. by @annamanila_

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4 months ago

Sometimes I still have to pinch myself that this gets to be something I do. Everything about the process lights me up and excites my soul.

Meeting people exactly where they are.

Listening to their stories.

Noticing the tiny gestures, the in-between moments, the laughter that slips out when they forget they’re being photographed.

I’ve never been interested in perfect poses.

It’s always been about preserving the feeling.
The essence.

I love what I do.

And I don’t take for granted that I’ve been entrusted with your memories, your milestones, your businesses, your families, and the quiet little moments in between.

If you’ve been thinking about booking a session or creating something beautiful together my inbox is always open🤍

#puertoescondidophotographer #fouraetherscreativestudio #brandphotographer #lifestylephotographer #fouraethers taken in Puerto Escondido, Oaxaca by @annamanila_

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4 months ago