On October 2, 2024, NOW Art sat down with artist JOJO ABOT for a live conversation about public art and LUMINEX 3.0 on Instagram (@nowart_la). RSVP here for future LUMINEX Artist Talks.
Below is a transcript of the video:
NOW Art: Hi everyone. My name is Kat. I am on the Luminex team and I’m here with JOJO ABOT, one of the incredible artists whose work you’ll get to see this Saturday. We’re gonna just chat for a few minutes. Please come on in, get settled, and learn more about JOJO ABOT’s work, as well as things on her mind right now.
JOJO ABOT: Things on my mind right now, yes. Many things on my mind right now.
NOW Art: Many things. Thanks for joining. I’m gonna start, by just a question about your work in general, I’ve seen your work in a few different forms at this point, but I would love if you could, in your own words, tell folks about how you think about your practice overall and things that currently you’re working on.
Yeah. Big question.
JOJO ABOT: I believe I’m an a being, a human spirit essence that is essentially engaging different mediums and disciplines to serve the purpose of collective healing and collective liberation. I’m not bound by mediums. I tend to ask myself more so what my message is and lead with that.
I aim to serve, I aim to be fully embodied in my ever evolving self. And my desire is to share that with community as I continue to build community.
NOW Art: And when you think about the way that moves through community, where does, what space does video hold in that? This work that you’re doing for Luminex is video, and I’ve seen a number of like other installations of your video work.
So maybe as a medium, how does that do what you’re describing? Yeah.
JOJO ABOT: I feel like film is very powerful in the sense that it allows for a certain kind of tempo, it allows for a certain kind of a frequency that can be deeply embedded in the subconscious, even if the person isn’t like fully aware of the impact that the work is having on them.
I feel like it’s a huge responsibility also understanding the impact that it can have, right? It’s a very seductive sort of all-consuming medium if it hits you the right way, right? And so I love being able to tell stories. I love being able to tell creative stories. I love being able to take the mundane, the everyday space, the everyday thing and make it sacred.
Not even make it sacred, but allow it to exist as sacred. Bringing presence and attention to that which we perhaps dismiss on a daily basis. Because I believe all things are sacred. All of life is sacred. All things are interconnected. All things make up the divide. And so film allows me to tell these stories through my body, through creation, through the mountains, through the waters, through the trees, the air, through the fire, that represent divine feminine flow, creation at work, creation looking to heal itself, creation looking to experience the greatest possible harmony. And the rhythm of the work and the colors in the work and the movement of the work, everything looks to serve that. And ultimately, it does its own thing.
It does its own thing in the sense of inviting people into imagining where that force of creation is already active in their lives and where they could intentionally and consciously engage that spirit of flow, of harmony, of creation, of fertility, of birthing new life, of being life affirming and sustainable and conscious.
And that’s what I really love about film. And the fact that memory can be not a thing of the past, but a hope for the future. And also a documentation of the present.
NOW Art: Absolutely. I think one thing that’s always, a question with video and photography too is this representation, this questioning of reality, right?
Like, in documenting, so many people think of those mediums as documenting a reality. And I think one of the things that I think your work does so beautifully is thinking about that, but creating these layers of that reality, right? I think there’s a conjuring of a reality that is so much more than what we see on a day to day basis.
I want to ask you about the project that you just returned from New York, putting into space and offering to people. And I know that was something that people could actually see from the High Line, right? And so can you talk about like that particular relationship and the way that people are maybe seeing your work in that space?
I feel like that’s a very unique kind of encounter, I guess?
JOJO ABOT: It’s very much a unique encounter. And that was part of the process for me, in choosing to engage the space. The High Line is a very busy, busy route in New York and you’re elevated above the ground. Anything is possible.
The skies are open. And then as you’re walking down, you turn to the right and there are all these embodiments of divine feminine power, right? You can’t quite touch it. You can only perceive it. You can’t hear anything. The main and active sense is the eyes, right? So you’re heavily indulging through the eyes.
And so leaning into that, they say the eyes are the pathway to the soul, right? Essentially. But also how can we perceive as a way of engaging with our soul, right? Rather than being perceived through our eyes as a way to our soul. And if all you had was sight, what does sight mean?
And in a spiritual sense, sight is very powerful. I, and you’re talking about my work being like a play with realities. What is reality, right? We can all be in the same room and have a very different perception of reality. And so just understanding that is a fluid thing, that is not a stagnant thing, that is a unique thing, much like our experience of love, the divine God.
We can release into that being a shifting space, right? Where we’re not believing everything 100%, but we’re questioning things. We’re appreciating what we’re seeing. We’re being with what we’re seeing without attachment or judgment. And so sight is a very powerful thing. It leads to a very specific kind of alchemy.
And so engaging people on the High Live in that way was really powerful. And then on a Saturday, I did two pop up performances in which these avatars, these divine beings that are represented in the film, came to life. I engaged my body as a tool for communication and also for transmitting energy, right?
And so as people passed the High Line, they would stop and there I was sitting. And there are multiple things to consider here, right? The inaccessibility and yet the invitation to be with at the same time. And the confusion that created for people.
And this processing of, how come I’m not entitled to be closer? How come I can’t be closer? Why is this thing so far away from me? And yet, how do I feel so much intimacy with this moment, with this performance, with this encounter? So that conversation around ways in which we can be in honoring something without having to touch, own, name, fully understand the thing. It can just be, and we can feel what we’re meant to feel. We can go on about our way, right?
It can be a give and take, it was interesting seeing a lot of men in particular coming and confronting me with the hardness because New York can be a very hard city. And then them holding a gaze and seconds later easing into a smile or a deep breath, right?
And there’s a power about inviting people into states of presence, states of rituals, states of ceremony, states of togetherness, states of breath, right? Interrupting their flow, being a form of intervention and ultimately initiating ritual in spaces where it’s unexpected, I really appreciate that because then it reminds us that, the divine is with us at all times. Love is with us at all times. Life is in all things. And it’s important to be mindful of that.
NOW Art: Absolutely. And it also engages with this really interesting experience on the High Line that at least I’ve had, which is that the way that the High Line was built and also that these other structures, architectures grow around that space.
There’s a visibility into people’s everyday, into people’s apartments, it’s quite easy to see some of the space, the domestic spaces that exist inside the surrounding buildings. And I also find that intervention is also happening on that level. Like not only the experience of walking on the High Line, but the experience of, Oh, like I just saw, an apartment, an empty apartment where nothing was really necessarily unfolding and now here something very much is unfolding and that contrast and play with like domestic space also is interesting.
JOJO ABOT: But also even thinking about the fact that just because something is in existence, doesn’t mean that by virtue of it being in existence, we deserve to see it? With my work in particular, I don’t believe that it’s meant to be seen by everyone.
Sometimes I actually protect my work from certain eyes, right?
And so things exist. My, one of my philosophies that I share, FYFYA WOTO, gives agency, power and ultimately autonomy to the thing, the being, the essence, the energy, the being. Long before it’s discovered, it’s not discovery that affirms us, right? We are fully whole, whether seen or unseen. Seen or unseen, we are full, we are whole, we are present, we are alive, we’re here.
And so being able to respect and honor things for what they are, whether validated, seen, named, owned, affiliated, or not. I feel it’s like a fundamental thing that, some parents try to teach us as kids, but as adults, even, we struggle with. This deep sense of honor and shared space, shared life, shared experience.
How do we cultivate these habits, right? How do we engage these practices with deep love for ourselves and each other? That becomes a question.
NOW Art: Yeah and this is such an important sort of space to be thinking about in this context of public art and with something like Luminex, because when we’re thinking about the way that people will engage, and with Luminex, it’s also, it’s really right in front of you, right?
There isn’t that distance. And so I think bringing in and really thinking about what does respect look like in that space? What also does access look like in that space? So I want to talk a little bit about the installation for Luminex, and what are you thinking about with the audience?
What is that relationship? What would you like to see or what are you excited about in that space this Saturday?
JOJO ABOT: I feel like land is very powerful. The land we stand on, the history of the land we stand on. The potency of all elements. The city is very concrete. Downtown is very concrete. There’s a lot of displacement. There’s a lot of wailing. There’s a lot of turmoil. There’s a lot of sorrow, there’s a lot of neglect, abandonment. There’s a lot of dehumanization.
And at the same time, there’s so much wealth. There’s an active economy there are a lot of immigrants there are people from all walks of life looking to survive and thrive in those spaces.
And it can sometimes feel like a dystopian reality depending on what block you turn on.
And so understanding that many people are stuck in that space. Essentially, people live there, whether they’re in apartments or on the street. How do we bring a sense of humanity, sacredness, and divinity into a space that is continuously being defiled, right?
How does our perspective and our relationship to the space change? How do we inhabit this space with a prayer almost towards the space thriving? Some people are afraid of downtown, people don’t feel safe downtown. We create that sense of safety, one for the other, right? It’s not some extended outside structure that, says hi as it walks past you on the street, it’s us being neighborly, us being in community with one another, us seeing each other, us sharing our food with one another, us not stepping over each other to get to the next thing, right?
So that presence, that call to presence, that call to attention, that call to accountability, that call to exchange, that call to awareness is it. In anything I offer, in any perspective, any thought process for me is how can I, in occupying this half a block, whatever radius of downtown LA, be open like a womb because both streets on either side are open, which is powerful for me to engage in that space, particularly. Being open, almost like your legs are open, but intentionally you’re pouring of yourself, from the womb, from the core and inviting into your womb almost for a refresh, a refreshing, a rebirthing. That’s what it feels like. And it’s funny. I haven’t even put it into words until right now. I wrote my manifesto yesterday and this should have been on it. But I felt that just now. And so what does it look like to create a sacred space? In a space that perhaps has been neglected or has only existed for capitalistic gain.
How do you disrupt that? How do you bring it back to the divine?
How do you bring it back to creation, to the creator? Not make it about anyone, but that. Set a grid.
Shift the frequency, shift the energy. That’s really what it’s about.
The visuals, the sound is all incredible, but really there’s an undertone of things that are really happening.
NOW Art: Absolutely. There’s a, we were just talking about how the weather today is like this bubbling and there’s a little bit of that too, right?
JOJO ABOT: Anything possible. If you dare.
NOW Art: Yeah. And you’re speaking to also the fact that like, sne of the incredible things in my view of public art and Luminex is that people will bring so much of that energy on their own to that, like you cultivate this energy and then it interplays with the energy that everyone else brings into the space.
I feel like that’s, we’re talking about these two projects in which you’re creating public art at different scales, in different environments, but has there been, have you found that more recently, public art has been more of an interest, or have you found that has been a through line over the course of your practice, that this has always been something that you’ve been working on?
JOJO ABOT: Yeah. Whether officially or unofficially, I’ve always engaged community. In, I believe 2018, I had a temple open on Canal Street. We converted an old Chinese store into a temple. Community could come in, people could rest, people could create, people could nap. I believe in humanizing us, creating that reminder of love, right?
I’ve done another temple for about a month in Brooklyn, and I met someone recently that reminded me of having been there. It’s just an open space for a community to come in, and I believe that arts is meant to serve that. What is public? What is private? It’s oftentimes interconnected, and there are many people who feel so unsafe at home that the public space is all they have.
So how cities are designed impacts how we thrive and how we live and how we’re able to be in community and to be able to repurpose these spaces, repurpose these resources to share work or share medicine or share reflections that ease our system, that heal our spirit, that nourish our being, Is the opportunity that we have, right?
All the ads and all the nonsense and all the noise in the midst of all that, there can be really beautiful invitations. And so I don’t take that opportunity for granted, whether I step out on my own, like we did on the High Line to do cleansing of a city, where we cleanse the city within a few blocks radius.
But that was activated. It’s a personal choice, or working with an institution. I feel like it’s a responsibility, right? To charge the spaces that we’re in and to pray over them and to call in love to the grid.
NOW Art: Yeah. I think as you were speaking about that and I was thinking about also the recent EP release party of yours that I went to, and maybe as a way to close this conversation, I would love if you could talk a little bit about maybe that EP and also the relationship of that EP to this work for Luminex.
Do you, is there, like people can go listen to the EP right now, right?
JOJO ABOT: Yes, they can.
NOW Art: And have this, yeah almost get in that space maybe as they think about coming to Luminex, I’m wondering, yeah, if maybe you can speak about that.
JOJO ABOT: Absolutely. It’s online. It’s called Re.Member.
My name is JOJO ABOT. It’s on all the streaming platforms. Please engage. It’s a 30 minute journey. You can take it in chunks and bits if you want as well. Re.Member is a call to remember who we are. To remember our power, our purpose, our passion. To live a life that is driven by something that is greater than us.
So that we’re accountable to something outside of our ego.
Because that too is an ever evolving, shifting space. Re.Member is an opportunity for us to gather with intention to really hold space for ourselves and each other with as much grace as possible, knowing that in the times to come, we’re going to need each other.
We’re going to need to be well, regardless of circumstance, we’re going to be able, we’re going to need to be able to tap into an unconditional love.
An unconditional peace, right? That is not situation-based because there’ll be so much happening. How do we become grounded in, so Re.Member is that invitation.
Know your power. Know that you’re held. Know that you have a calling. Know that everything can work out for your good. Know that the more you step into this space of full autonomy, full embodiment. Full, full, fullness without being afraid, without letting fear get in the way to allow yourself to reap, to walk into the garden of your life and literally pick the fruit.
Because you’ve been daring enough to plant a seed.
That’s what Re.Member is, the divine feminine spirit actively at work. And the divine feminine spirit is not void of the masculine. It’s the harmony. It’s the balance. And so how do we find that within ourselves? How do we share that with one another? That doesn’t mean that that space is void of boundaries, because discernment is very important.
Wisdom is essential. But also while growing into that, how can we continue to occupy all of that? That is the fullness. That is the wholeness. So Re.Member, for us.
NOW Art: Yes. Please listen to Re.Member. Please come and see JOJO ABOT’s incredible work at Luminex this Saturday. It is going to be just brilliant.
And I am so grateful that you made space for this conversation. And held this space for me and for us. And for everyone who is here virtually. We’ll see you on Saturday.
JOJO ABOT: See you on Saturday. Bless. Power to the God Within.