Dionysus

Zoleka Mannie is a 27-year-old multidisciplinary artist, poet, and aspiring Creative Director from Johannesburg but currently residing in Nelspruit, South Africa. She describes herself as a hyper-romantic Xhosa Social ape that is passionate about the mysteries of creation and its intelligence, anthropology, intimacies, discoveries and dominance of the human condition. She is part of the Design Indaba Emerging Creative Class of 2020 program. With not much spotlight as an emerging artist,t Zoleka the young poet has had her poetry published with Outcast Magazine, Button Poetry, Plants & Poetry Journal, Active Muse Journal, and articles published with Heart of Alpha Magazine and a featured article on the Street Culture Code site. Her most celebrated project is 'Talk Like A Painting, a poetry book written and self-published in April 2019 but is currently working on more collections. Mannie is currently completing her Diploma in ICT and App Development at the University of Mpumalanga. Some of her projects include the digital series "YOU CAN'T HAVE YOUR ART BACK", "IMPHEPHO" and “DECOR YOURSELF” ”which are inspired by African masks, ancestral blood, and black/melanin royalty. Bernice sees herself as living in the abstract wildlife of her existence and resists anything that dehumanizes her melanin identity. Passionate about art, indigenous knowledge, literature, gender equality, youth and childhood development, mental health, sustainability, and intellectual disability sports.