Los Angeles-based musician and poet Aja Monet has described her work as a form of spiritual warfare, using Afro-surrealism to challenge institutional and algorithmic exploitation. Speaking in London, where she is artist in residence at the Barbican, Monet discussed how surrealism has historically been a tool for artists responding to fascism, and how it remains relevant for Black communities today.
Her new album, The Color of Rain, draws on experimental jazz and surrealist influences to explore themes of love, resistance and the absurdity of modern life. The lead single, Hollyweird, portrays Los Angeles after the wildfires as a surreal, apocalyptic landscape. “African people are surreal,” Monet said. “We’ve always had to contend with the most absurd. What is more absurd than racism and sexism?”
Monet cites the Négritude movement and the Harlem Renaissance as inspirations, alongside recent Afro-surrealist films and TV shows such as Get Out, Atlanta and Sorry to Bother You. She argues that surrealism allows for an “insurgent consciousness” that counters colonialism’s lack of political imagination.
The poet criticised how culture is controlled by institutions and algorithms, which she says produce people who are easy to control. “Culture is one of the biggest ways to access a sense of self-determination,” she said, but warned that capitalism has turned art into a mode of entertainment and exploitation.
Born to parents of Jamaican, Cuban and Puerto Rican heritage, Monet identifies as Black and spoke about the impact of systemic racism on her family. “The police didn’t stop us and say, ‘Oh, you’re Cuban.’ They saw Black people,” she said, recalling how her uncle’s imprisonment shaped her understanding of injustice.
Monet is preparing for a show at Carnegie Hall this spring to showcase The Color of Rain. Her second poetry collection, Florida Water, was recently nominated for an NAACP award, and she performed with Stevie Wonder at Time magazine’s Martin Luther King Day event.
