'Look at what our expansiveness can afford us.' Awol Erizku on a universal language for the African diaspora

Late past year, I developed a transportation with 1 of Awol Erizku’s artworks somewhat by accident. I was connected the creation level astatine Living Room, 1 of L.A.’s newest subordinate clubs and nightlife hotspots, being bathed successful the fragmented, dazzling airy of a disco shot successful the signifier of Nefertiti’s bust. As the nighttime grew much navy with time, I yet looked up, and was struck by the quality and almighty beingness of African royalty supra me.

Erizku, a 36-year-old Ethiopian-born, Los Angeles-based modern artist, has astir precocious installed that artwork, “Nefertiti–Miles Davis,” astatine the California African American Museum arsenic portion of his archetypal solo depository exhibition, “Awol Erizku: X.” Composed of caller and caller works, the amusement is simply a solemnisation and reexamination of Afrocentric aesthetics — an attack to look the creator calls “Afro-esotericism.” Malcolm X is astatine the bosom of it all, his representation anointing the walls and a photograph of his erstwhile home, boarded up with a motion advertizing its rehabilitation, presented without comment. It’s a amusement astir preserving Black history, astir the spiritual implications bubbling beneath acquainted objects with treble meanings successful the culture, from crystal to bricks.

Awol Erizku, “Transfixion (Nefertiti),” 2025.

Elsewhere successful Los Angeles, Erizku’s accumulation “Moon, Turn the Flames…Gently Gently Away,” his inaugural solo with Sean Kelly Gallery connected presumption done July 3, features hypersaturated inactive lifes that bespeak the quality (flowers), temptations (money) and struggles (smoke) of taste beingness successful L.A., a metropolis helium has present lived successful for 10 years.

On the juncture of that opening, I met Erizku astatine Living Room again, but this clip it was face-to-face and not done a accidental brushwood with his work. The multidisciplinary artist, who works crossed photography, sculpture, painting, installation, movie and sound, was grounded, lukewarm and astir funny successful eschewing the authorities and oft-performative pleasantries of the creation satellite successful favour of genuine transportation with the assemblage of guests. Though we didn’t cognize each other, determination was an instant familiarity, which is possibly the astir sacred, inexplicable portion of the African diasporic experience: that consciousness of recognition, which is much a feeling than thing that tin beryllium adequately described. In this way, the precise tone of Blackness is creation — a stirring beyond language. And it is this absorption connected the feeling of wordless knowing that guides Erizku’s attack to creation.

Evan Nicole Brown: Both of your L.A. shows hinge connected a symbol: the 5 colorful, interlocking Olympic rings. Symbolism is specified a heavy and ascendant portion of your work: How bash you attack adding your aesthetic to ready-made symbols — similar the Olympic rings, the Hollywood sign, the L.A. Dodgers logo — which are acquainted to america arsenic viewers, successful bid to marque them your own?

Awol Erizku: Symbols, for me, person go a mode to pass and person an contiguous effect. So by simply turning the Dodgers logo and virtually conscionable swapping the colors to those of the Pan-African flag, I’m capable to talk to Black folks directly. I deliberation erstwhile you spot that, you cognize that’s for you, you cognize that’s a unifying symbol. That’s what I’m aft — symbols that we tin usage successful a cosmopolitan manner.

Awol Erizku, “Poetics of Universal Relation (Malik’s Dream),” 2025.

Awol Erizku, “Last Seen Balling (Pradayou),” 2025.

ENB: That conscionable made maine recognize the existent powerfulness of ocular symbolism arsenic a shorthand, arsenic a mode to accidental truthful overmuch without saying thing astatine all. Even a colour tin beryllium a shorthand to show something.

AE: That besides resonates with the “Nipsey blue” successful the inheritance of the [gallery] show. I’ve said this successful passing, but I thought astir making [the show] a emotion missive for my son. And I inactive bash deliberation astir it that way, due to the fact that a batch of the topics successful the exhibition, particularly astatine the gallery, is simply a speech that I deliberation immoderate begetter would person with their son. [I’m] looking backmost astatine immoderate of the things that I’ve been reasoning astir a batch consciously, and I recovered a mode to pass that by distilling definite symbols to marque juxtapositions that past gave a caller meaning. Like the grounds markers and cowrie shells are 2 things that shouldn’t beryllium together, but someway by putting them unneurotic successful this way, it creates a third, oregon new, meaning. [With those images], I’m looking astatine the killings of Sean Bell and Amadou Diallo, and the 3rd taxable is benignant of open-ended, which is the bittersweet reality. But with those 2 men successful particular, I retrieve being a younger antheral surviving successful New York and reasoning astir however it happened, erstwhile it happened and however radical reacted to it.

On a deeper level, successful my lexicon, I rubric the works successful a mode that isn’t truthful direct. The portion for Sean Bell, “Sean Bell - Shawny Binladen,” is really the rubric of a Shawny Binladen song, which past complicates this communicative adjacent further. And the rubric of [the portion for Amadou Diallo], “American Skin (41 Shots) - Bruce Springsteen,” is successful notation to a Bruce Springsteen song, which again complicates the communicative adjacent further due to the fact that present you’re not conscionable talking astir constabulary execution and rap, present I’m utilizing idiosyncratic from a antithetic genre who’s besides talking astir constabulary brutality successful America. There’s a deeper interest and consciousness of the ripple effects of constabulary brutality successful America arsenic it relates to young Black men specifically.

Awol Erizku, “Poppy Freestyle I,” 2025.

Awol Erizku, “To3 Tagg3r (Blue),” 2025.

ENB: How does your Ethiopian practice fig into your work, peculiarly arsenic you marque creator choices that link the broader diaspora? In your images, I spot you exploring constabulary brutality connected American soil, but besides recurring motifs similar cowrie shells, fume and flowers look to beryllium much conceptual reminders of home, ritual, currency and taste memory.

AE: The bittersweet happening is — and this is wherefore I consciousness these 2 taxable matters person possibly been successful my consciousness for truthful agelong — is that Amadou Diallo was Guinean, and Sean Bell was a foundational Black American, but to constabulary you’re inactive a Black antheral astatine the extremity of the day, you know? So immoderate qualms we whitethorn person connected the nuance level, to the extracurricular satellite we’re a monolith, adjacent though we cognize we aren’t.

For me, that’s the nucleus of the work. It’s each astir creating a connection that we tin usage passim the diaspora successful a cosmopolitan fashion. “Afro-esotericism,” an ideology that I’ve been gathering for the past [several] years, relates to my 2023 monograph “Mystic Parallax,” which shows you a mentation of Black aesthetics cohabitating and existing successful the aforesaid universe; it’s acold much absorbing to make a caller mode of looking astatine the satellite by [using] the things that we already person vulnerability to.

ENB: How does the scenery of Los Angeles, the location of Hollywood and galore different taste exports, pass your practice, peculiarly your projects that prosecute celebrities and the conception of fame?

Artist Awol Erizku lights a cigaret that is portion of 1 of his creation pieces connected grounds astatine Sean Kelly gallery.

AE: I personally americium distant from that world. I mean, there’s immoderate work-related things that I bash each erstwhile successful a while, but arsenic a whole, I went to schoolhouse and I focused a batch connected theory. So the commercialized worldly truly doesn’t clasp that overmuch h2o for me.

L.A. tin beryllium isolating, it tin beryllium welcoming, it tin beryllium territorial. It’s a multifaceted city; that’s what I emotion astir it and that’s wherever I find the inspiration for astir of these works. I find L.A. to beryllium inspiring arsenic an creator due to the fact that it gives you a batch of country to breathe, and a batch of country to signifier antithetic things; it’s astir similar an bare canvas that is conscionable waiting to beryllium filled with ideas.

ENB: I’m perpetually reasoning astir the hostility betwixt the produced mentation of L.A. and the earthy satellite of the city, and however the prime of airy present from the prima contrasts with the artificiality of neon.

AE: When it comes to neon, I deliberation it’s a mean that I’ll proceed to enactment with until I can’t. I find neon to beryllium this mean that uses airy successful a much poetic way.

A large illustration of that is “NO ICE”; it’s truthful simple, but you tin truly work into it. The duality and treble entendres successful hip-hop is truthful important and crucial. Why is “OPPS” successful the benignant of the Cops [T.V. show] logo? If you know, you know, you cognize what I mean?

Awol Erizku, “OPPS,” 2025.

ENB: Let’s ellipse backmost to “Afro-esotericism,” which has to bash with symbolism, spirituality and this bequest of mythmaking.

AE: It’s the intrinsic feelings, expressions, gestures, thoughts and conscionable wide [experience] of being a Black quality being connected this planet, similar the things that we already person successful us. There are each these things that extremity up getting co-opted by radical connected the internet, but I’m much funny successful the things that they can’t pat into, the things that they can’t steal. It’s an unfastened root [ideology]; I’m unfastened to radical adding to it, to marque immoderate benignant of atlas oregon an encyclopedia [with] cognition of being.

ENB: The richness of Black civilization is truthful peculiar truthful I truly resonate with that. But I americium besides funny astir whether you make abstraction successful your signifier for play — not to undercut the extent of each that you’re exploring, but I’m astir exhausted by Blackness being specified a superior subject, and being truthful profound. It’s truthful amusive seeing memes conscionable astir the mode we laughter portion moving distant from each other, you know? How bash you permission country for that benignant of registry of Blackness successful your work, too?

AE: That is precisely what I’m trying to get out. I’m simply saying, look astatine what our expansiveness tin spend us.

Evan Nicole Brown is simply a Los Angeles-born writer, exertion and writer who covers the arts and culture. Her enactment has been featured successful Architectural Digest, Dwell, The Hollywood Reporter, the New York Times, T Magazine, Time and elsewhere. She is the managing exertion of Contemporary Art Review Los Angeles and the laminitis of Group Chat, a speech bid successful L.A.