F  L  A  U  N  T

When the Appropriator Becomes the Appropriated; A Ceremony of Self Reclamation

Late morning trickles into JOJO ABOT’s living room—we’re on Zoom, but something tells me her home is full of plants. I ask the multimedia artist, healer, and alchemist about her roots, of which there are many—Ghana, Copenhagen, the US, South Africa, and Kenya—to name a few. She lights a joint and exhales, “Being a nomad offers an opportunity to be expansive in my roots and knowledge of self. To further my branches, extend my tentacles and establish a deeper connection to other forms of nourishment beyond my Ghanaian roots which I will forever be grateful for. There are diverse and infinite lands to be nourished by, and so I travel to witness reflections of myself and to reconcile my ancestry all the way back to source HERself.”

The experimental artist currently lives in L.A., where she recently finished a solo show at Shoot the Lobster gallery. “POWER TO THE GOD WITHIN”, a mantra of hers and fittingly the title of the show acted as a proclamation of JOJO ABOT’s ethos, writing in the show’s manifesto, “Now is the time to let go of our shame—our doubts and our reasons why we may not be enough—now is the time to see ourselves through a new eye—with a fresh lense.” Across all mediums, she keeps herself busy—some of her interdisciplinary partnerships include The MoMa, Brooklyn Museum, The Ghana Pavillion, La Biennale di Venezia, Frieze Art Fair x Theaster Gates x Prada, Kennedy Center, and the Greek Theatre. “Consider me as someone who is aiming to provoke and experience exponential elevation, exponential growth, exponential learning, exponential expansion in one lifetime,” states JOJO ABOT of her multiplicitous practice and the force that enables her creation. “That’s the core of my drive. It’s almost as though there are multiple ancient beings looking to fulfill something urgent and important within this lifetime...And so I’m driven to not conform or be limited in my conjuring, manifestations, and service as a creator.”

JOJO ABOT speaks her words with care, like poetry. Her artistic practice and spirituality bleed together into a distinctly unique harmony, which makes defining JOJO ABOT’s work in conventional terms difficult—in all the right ways: “in a space of harmony with all that is life, I am free to create without limitation. This inspires me to operate off of a daily practice and philosophy of ‘MESSAGE OVER MEDIUM’. A space of exploration and expression that does not answer to any laws, aesthetics, or passing hype. A space where time no longer exists. Where one births with care honoring past, present and future all at one and all together. That’s a specific personal philosophy and language I’m exploring that truly excites me. I remain committed to the message above all else.”

This philosophy is consistent across her body of work— whether that be music, filmmaking, clothing design, gallery work, photography, or installations—each is handled with the devotion of a prayer. To JOJO ABOT, there shouldn’t be a separation between art and spiritual devotion. This is the root of alchemy, which she references as a major force in her work: “It is listening, witnessing, being of service, amplifying, channeling, conjuring, manifesting, calling forward, releasing, holding that sacred space of being, a portal, an Oracle and access point, a conscious conductor and transmuter of energy.”

JOJO ABOT answers questions in a stream-of-thought matter that never sacrifices eloquence. Similar to her work, there’s an undercurrent of intuitive spontaneity, further exemplified by her drawing streams of consciousness in white ink behind her within the pages of Flaunt. Her music is a dynamic melting pot of jazz, hip hop, punk, spoken word, soul, and ancient indigenous sounds—her mantric vocals pull you into a transcendental mediative state. The beauty of JOHO ABOT is that she makes her truths accessible—her work is communal, it welcomes you into a world of multipicity and celebration, regardless of a listen’s respective spiritual journey.

While embracing this communal philosophy, she makes it clear that cultures are not necessarily a free-for-all. She rejects the commodification and fetishization of her practices: “I think there’s a very thin line. And at this point, we need to honor each other. Whether it’s Asian practices, Indigenous American practices or African cultural and spiritual practices, as the world evolves, we’ve come to understand these are not gimmicks or elements to be toyed with. Their power and importance must be acknowledged and honored for our collective healing. As we reflect on the beautiful Maori people of New Zealand and the aboriginal people of Australia—practices and people that have been damn-near wiped out—we know, with urgency, we just need to learn to honor each other. The ultimate truth is white people are no longer in a position to tell anyone else’s story or define anyone else’s way of living. So called civilization is a scam and separates us from the divine technology within. We don’t want it.”

When JOJO ABOT speaks of God or the Spirit, it’s never proselytizing or alienating. Her language embraces a mentality of all roads lead to God—or at least what one might conceive of as God. She explains, “My spirituality comes from a space of intentionally combining elements together, sacred alchemy led by my spirit eye in a way that I can know and trust the end result is led by ‘the ONE and the ALL’ , which some call God.” There’s a wonderful practicality to her focus on the transcendental. For JOJO ABOT, divinity can be experienced in the day- to-day, through witnessing the body, mind, and soul in action; divinity is not an inaccessible destination, but integrated into the world around us.

“I’ve heard many times growing up, one should do without the ego. About five to seven years ago, as part of my contemplation, it came to me that the ego is something that can be edified. The ego is something that can be reconstructed and deconstructed. Shaped into echoes of love. The ego is something that is fluid in constant evolution, much like creation herself, constantly looking to connect, edify, refine, and expand herself.”

The multiplicity of her art, beliefs, and experiences are infused with her journeys as a nomad. You can see fragments of her many lives, the loved ones she’s encountered in her travels, and her commitment to nurturing the land around her. “Let’s tend to our own garden and nourish ourselves, because in that, the collective frequency increases, the collective sense of healing increases, the collective love heals and elevates all of us. We all become entangled in that beauty. We’re all drawn further into that state of harmony. That is heaven, that is God, that is Love in motion” Her music reaches beyond the limits of language. If JOJO ABOT’s creations are an act of prayer, then she invites you to join in the exaltation of the spirits, ancestors, and deities that share this world with us.

Near the end of our interview, I ask JOJO ABOT what animal would she be reincarnated into, were she to have the choice. “All of them. Why pick one?”

So what’s next for JOJO ABOT? Well, in a sense, the world is her oyster: she has a project with Burning Man and Sotheby’s set to debut this month in NY, a magic-themed show at L.A. Louver, SeenUnseen, curated by Alison Saar, and a continuation of her Afro-psychedelia series—an event where art meets meditation and celebration, or in her words, “it’s a church in a club, a club in a church. A high-frequency church-club. Join us!”

Concept and Creative Direction: JOJO ABOT
Photographed by Nick Berardi
Written by Oli Misraje