JJ Manford was born in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1983. Receiving his bachelor’s degree from Cornell in 2006, Manford went on to obtain a post-Baccalaureate certificate from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2009, graduating with his MFA from Hunter College in 2012. Manford’s work has been exhibited in New York City, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Chicago, London, Rome, Copenhagen, and Puerto Rico. His work has been included in multiple private and public collections, including the Everson Museum in Syracuse, New York and the Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami, Florida. Manford is currently an adjunct professor at Pratt Institute. In 2013, Manford co-founded Underdonk—an artist-run exhibition space and collective located in the Bushwick neighborhood of Brooklyn. Manford currently lives and works in Brooklyn.
