At home with Manisha

At home with Manisha Anjali, Writer and Artist

Interview: Sarah Kourim | Photography: Manisha Anjali

Manisha Anjali is a writer and artist based in Melbourne, and one of the beautiful faces from our recent Autumn Winter Collection.

We caught up with Manisha to chat about her latest projects, staying busy in lockdown and to have a sneak peek at our new Spring Summer collection. Launching Thursday 27th August.

Describe yourself in a sentence:

I live in poetry and dreams.

How are you keeping yourself busy through lockdown?

At the beginning of lockdown in March I began collecting and publishing dreams and hallucinations by the People of the World at Neptune, my dream archiving platform. I want to see what patterns can be unearthed from our collective unconscious during this time of collective isolation.

I have also been working on two books of poetry, both to be released next year. I recently created an interactive manifesto on how to place Imagination and Love as markers for a new world order called ISOSCELES-SHAPED VISIONS FOR THE RECONCILIATION OF WAVY ACTIVITY BETWEEN DREAM & MIRROR REALMSfor Collective Trace and Pact Sydney. I made an audio work called ‘Flower Improvisation’, for Bittersweet, an exhibition that is currently showing at Casula Powerhouse. I have also been teaching workshops on dreams, the unconscious and creativity.

What’s your next project?

I hope the next project involves travel, movement and freedom. I want to do more collaborative projects. I want to continue the work I am doing with Neptune, dream archiving and teaching. I want to immerse myself in long form writing, film and sound.

Do you have any daily rituals?

I write in my dream journal every day. I like to wake up early and write. I am constantly drinking coffee and tea. Everyday I look forward to watching the sunset out my window. It is so beautiful and so different each time, the magic colours painted in the sky.

How do you think this period will change our lives in the future?

This is a really interesting moment in history where we have the chance to re-imagine and re-create a new world. The world has stopped and all rules have been thrown out the window and we can collectively implement compassionate and sustainable ways of living. Things will never be the same again. They can be better. I believe that to make a beautiful new world we must return to old ways of living – old ways of caring for the land, the water, the animals, the people and the dreams.

What are you reading/listening to right now?

I am reading a collection of short stories by Clarice Lispector whom I am completely enamoured with. I am also reading the poetry of Bhanu Kapil and Natalie Briggs.

Jukebox Performance for a Camelia Tree is a playlist of psychedelic, garage and filmi music from across Asia in the 60s and 70s; a playlist for the camelia tree to perform in the dream world. The WAVY MIRROR playlist was put together when I was writing the imagination document for our dreamy new world. WINDOW: we are wrapping bandages on all surfaces except the windows on our facesis all about our strange new existence as masked beings – have you noticed how beautiful everybody’s eyes are?

Spring Summer will be launching Thursday 27th August.

Explore more of Manisha's work here

Nancybird is based on the banks of the Merri Creek, on the stolen lands of the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin nation, whom we acknowledge as the Traditional Owners of the land on which we work, recognising their continuing connection to land, waters, and culture. We pay our respects to their Elders, past, present, and emerging, and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island peoples today and every day.