This year, Mana will travel to Switzerland as an artist in residence in Basel for two weeks, continuing the development of her multidisciplinary work - The Significance of Rainbows.

Creating a sense of magical realism, the audiovisual performance is led by her musical compositions and weaves together an emotive story washed in hues of harmony and light. As she has an Honours degree in Theatre Making, she writes, directs and performs the piece informed by this knowledge. Primarily working with South African jazz musicians, dancers and visual artists, Mana emphasises on collaboration and the richness of the Global South.

See here her performance at Royal Arts Town Amphitheatre:

This work has now seen three iterations; at cultural hub The Commons (Cape Town), outdoor amphitheatre Royal Arts Town Amphitheatre (Riebeek Kasteel) and the beautiful stage at Gorgeous George Hotel (Cape Town).

Working in isolation as well as collaborating with jazz artists in Basel, she intends to specifically explore concepts of hybridity using lyricism and new compositions. As she comes from a multicultural background and grew up in diverse South Africa, her work is multilingual and fuses a wealth of genres and inspirations. Mana notes that hybridity is a key aspect to understanding how we can imagine and create harmonious futures. As such, she is interested in engaging in hybrid identity, ecology and policies.

The residency in Basel will culminate in a performance at Musikwohnhaus and a 4 track EP documenting the process of new compositions, and thereafter the material be used in future iterations of The Significance of Rainbows.