aja monet

aja monet

On ‘when the poems do what they do’, aja monet’s 2023 breakout album, the surrealist blues poet, like all the best of them, is unblinkingly honest, vulnerable, and open, but at the same time, subversively strong. This delicate balancing act makes aja monet a performer impossible to look away from. As NPR put it, live, the poet’s voice is a ‘balm and a barb’, at times soothing, at others piercing - but it is definitive, always. By centering Black resistance, love, and the inexhaustible quest for joy in her work, aja monet fiercely follows in the long tradition of poets participating and assembling in social movements, baring words’ shining teeth.

Photography by Fanny Chu

Venue: TivoliVredenburg

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