My name is Pola Maneli, and I’m a freelance illustrator based in South Africa.

I come from a graphic design background and worked as an art director in advertising where I was taught that you could tell an engaging story about almost anything if you put enough care and imagination into it. However, I eventually left advertising and went into academia to better learn about the underlying logics of some of our most well-known stories and why we’ve always felt compelled to tell them. And for some time, I even became a teacher myself. That is, until I realized that I’d never been more content than when I spent hours as a child drawing with my friends and coming up with our own stories - which is basically what I do now.

My name is Pola, and I’m an illustrator. How can I help you tell your story?

email: polamaneli@gmail.com
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Clients: Google • The New Yorker • New York Times • The Atlantic • The Nelson Mandela Foundation • The New Statesman • Brown University • Quartz • The Goethe-Institut • Constitution Hill • The Funambulist • The New York Review of Books • The Sunday Times • The Mail and Guardian • Two Dollar Radio Publishers, amongst others

2012 - NELSON MANDELA UNIVERSITY BACHELOR’S DEGREE GRADUATE
2013-14 - GRAPHIC DESIGNER / ART DIRECTOR FOR BOOMTOWN STRATEGIC BRAND AGENCY
2013 - STUDENT SILVER LOERIE AWARD - COLLATERAL DESIGN
2013 - STUDENT GOLD LOERIE AWARD - CRAFT ILLUSTRATION
2014 - DESIGN INDABA EMERGING CREATIVE
2014 - 2015 - ART DIRECTOR FOR OGILVY & MATHER CAPE TOWN
2014 - CAPE TOWN CREATIVE DESIGN DIALOGUES PANELIST
2015 - DESIGN SHARE PARTY SPEAKER
2015 - CAPE TOWN OPEN CITY EXHIBITOR
2015 - “SUMMER FLING” EXHIBITION - SPACE BETWEEN GALLERY
2015 - CITY PRESS NEWSPAPER DESIGNER OF THE YEAR
2016 - GALERIE NOKO “DIALOGUE BEYOND FRONTIERS” PANELIST
2016 - PUBLISHED IN: “FASHION ILLUSTRATION AFRICA: A NEW GENERATION” BY SHOKOPRESS
2016 - PUBLISHED IN: “THE SHIFT OF EMANCIPATION: VISUAL ARTS, COHESION, TRANSFORMATION, SOUTH AFRICA” - VOL. 1 ‘STATE OF AFFAIRS’
2016 - “IN THE MAKING” EXHIBITION - ARTEC GALLERY
2016 - “INTERSECTIONS” EXHIBITION - NELSON MANDELA UNIVERSITY
2016 - 1ST PLACE CREATIVE CIRCLE AD OF THE MONTH - DISTRICT SIX TRAVELLING SUITCASES CAMPAIGN
2016 - SHORTLIST CANNES FESTIVAL OF CREATIVITY (MEDIA CATEGORY) - DISTRICT SIX TRAVELLING SUITCASES CAMPAIGN
2017 - CAPE TOWN ART FAIR EXHIBITOR
2017 - JOHANNESBURG ART FAIR EXHIBITOR
2017 - ALTER-NATIVE SCREENPRINT GROUP EXHIBITION
2018 - ACADEMIC RESEARCHER AT NELSON MANDELA UNIVERSITY
2018 - “GENDER FLUX” GALERIE NOKO GROUP EXHIBITION
2019 - DALINDLELA GROUP EXHIBITION
2019 - “WE ARE PRESENT” GROUP EXHIBITION
2019 - “IDENTITY & SOCIAL COHESION” COLLOQUIUM, SPEAKER
2019 - COLOURS OF YOU FESTIVAL OF CREATIVITY EXHIBITOR
2018 - 2019 - VISUAL ART HISTORY & DRAWING LECTURER AT NELSON MANDELA UNIVERSITY
2019 - AFROVIBES “SPEAK TRUTH TO POWER” NETHERLANDS PERFORMING ARTS FESTIVAL EXHIBITOR
2019 - RED LOCATION CULTURAL PRECINCT, ‘SKETCHBOOK 2.0 RESIDENCY’ PROGRAMME DIRECTOR
2019 - RED LOCATION CULTURAL PRECINCT, ‘SKETCHBOOK 2.0 RESIDENCY’ EXHIBITION AT NELSON MANDELA ART MUSEUM (CURATOR)
2020 - “AN INDIGENOUS EYE” GRADUATE EXHIBITION
2020 - MA FINE ART DEGREE GRADUATE
2020 - RINGLING COLLEGE OF ART AND DESIGN GUEST SPEAKER
2021 - “MIXED MEDIA” UNCLES ART DEALERS GROUP EXHIBITION
2021 - GOLD LOERIE AWARD - CAMPAIGN CRAFT ILLUSTRATION
2021 - NEW YORKER’S BEST IN ILLUSTRATION (2021)
2022 - THE GOETHE-INSTITUT - “POWER TALKS” EXHIBITION
2022 - THE GOETHE-INSTITUT - “POWER TALKS” CONFERENCE SPEAKER