Manuel Acevedo was born and raised in Newark, NJ. He has participated in various national and international exhibitions, including, PS1 Contemporary Art Center, Greater New York; Focal Point Gallery, Essex, UK, Persistence of Vision; Bard College, Annandale, NY, Re-Locations; The Studio Museum in Harlem, Flip, Funk & Fantasy; The Queens Museum of Art, Crossing the Line; Exit Art, “L” Factor; Westfaelischer Kunstverein, Muenster, Germany, Housing, two-person exhibition with Marjetica Potrc and an upcoming traveling exhibition titled None of the Above: Work by Contemporary Puerto Rican Artists, which will open in May 2004 at Real Art Ways, Hartford, CT

His awards and residencies include the Miami-based National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts, Residency Fellowship 1989-91; the New Jersey State Council on the Arts Distinguished Artist award 1992; the Studio Museum in Harlem’s Artist in Residence Fellowship Program 1999; the New Jersey State Council on the Arts for Works on Paper 2001 and the Mid-Atlantic Foundation's Artist as Catalysts Award 2001 for the Albizu Project, which culminated in a solo show at the Jersey City Museum 2002. Currently, he is working in the Newark Museum's, Artists in Residence program teaching pinhole photography to students in the Newark Public Schools.