Mangoranges

Mangoranges is a queer, black dancer, and multimedia artist, who makes short films about mental health since 2016. They were born and raised in Austria and performed on stages throughout Europe. 2019 they premiered their first solo performance “Melodies of movement” at Brunnenpassage freshTIVAL. Then they moved to London to study diverse dance styles. During that time Mangoranges spent several years fighting and advocating for the destigmatization of mental illness through spreading informative content on their social media platforms.

Their most recent work “side effect: sudden unexplained death”, was exhibited at the Volkskunde Museum - Queeres Museum Vienna, for Black History Month 2022. Now the artist is focused on creating space to let people of color express their struggles and coping strategies through filmmaking and other artistic practices.

Jury Statment:

“Naoma Izundu's project takes a perspective on two mutually reinforcing forms of discrimination, race on the one hand and mental illness on the other. Her artistic documentary takes up this discursive void in the culture industry in a multi-layered way. Along three to four thematic focal points yet to be determined, she portrays those affected or creates her portrait together with them. Naoma Izundu will accompany them through their everyday lives, conduct interviews with them and give them the cinematic space for their art. Her documentary will also raise creative questions, such as how moods and psychological states can be translated into an image. The project is based on the artist's situated knowledge. This gives her the necessary sensitivity in dealing with the portrayed, but also a precise set of tools to critically question terms from psychiatry and to work out the structural racism of therapies.”