​

BIOGRAPHY

Mani S — Artist & Fine-Art Photographer

Mani Shoniwa (b. 1958, Zimbabwe) is a self-taught artist and art photographer who lives and works in Scotland.

His multidisciplinary practice spans photography, writing, music and production. As a musician and producer, Mani has written and released music with Yoyohoney, Merittocracy and Win, and has collaborated with members of Parliament-Funkadelic, including Bootsy Collins. His musical work moves between orchestral, soulful electronic and dub influences. His current music focus is Merittocracy.

Photography is at the centre of Mani’s visual practice. He began developing his photographic work independently and collaborated with photographer Gavin Evans on projects during the 1990s. His photographic influences include Henri Cartier-Bresson and Erwin Olaf.

Mani’s work explores contemporary life through a personal visual language shaped by equality, modernism, futurism and popular culture. His photographs often look beneath the surface of everyday life, exploring its mystery, surrealism and contradictions.

His photographic projects include Dead Flowers, Runners, Fallas, Jardin del Turia, Streets, Flamenco and Ghosts in the Machine. His art books include Beautiful Dark Valencia and Dead Flowers.

His practice has developed through extensive travel and periods of living and working across Europe, including Paris, Berlin, Milan and Valencia. His experiences of different cultures, cities and environments continue to inform his approach to contemporary fine-art photography.

Mani’s work brings together photography, music and contemporary culture to create an evolving artistic practice concerned with the relationship between people, place, identity and the changing world around us.