JUJU STUDIO.

Source: Rand African Art

I figured I should probably stop giving your brain a seizure by forcing you to pronounce Le Beau Gosse Photography and make it easier on you, so that gave birth to Juju Studio (originally Juju Vision). Here is a list of all the names that did not make the cut:

One thing that can make (or break) a brand, is uniqueness. Juju Studio oscillates at the natural frequency as all the ideas I envision for this visual art brand but let me break it down to you so we are all on the same page. Juju in a lot of African spiritual belief systems represents something beyond our shallow understanding of life, something mysterious. This belief system incorporates the use of objects such as amulets, and masks. I could not think of a better term to represent my artistry and what I stand for, because I consider myself to have a mysterious personality. Unless your name is Doh or Mandeu, you don’t really know what I am up to, or my next step. I enjoy privacy, self-reliance and individuality.

When I had all these potential brand names above, I was not sure which one to pick, which one stood out the most, so I sought for help from my favorite person from Dundee, Jody! I met Jody in Tanzania during my last Basketball tournament as a senior in high school and the rest is history. I admire her taste when it comes to creativity so I trusted her feedback when I sent her this list. When she told me she didn’t want to read after Jujuvision, I knew I was getting close. I consulted Mandeu to pick between Juju Vision or Juju Studio, and since she was learning to code in Javascript, she leaned more towards Juju Studio because it shares the acronym JS with Javascript. So there you have it!

Juju Studio is a vessel for the documentation of black culture globally as it is dedicated to the edification of blackness. In my opinion, there are many beautiful things that make up the black experience which is never documented, and therefore, go unnoticed. In a world that is trying to make us something we are not, it is important for us to embrace this beautiful culture. I was born and raised in Cameroon, but I have also had the opportunity to live in different countries and absorb the black culture in those countries. My goal with this is to tell stories that highlight similarities between the motherland and the diaspora while also giving Black people something inspiring to like about themselves, rather than modeling people who don’t look like us, who don’t know our story, our culture.

Yours in Blackness, Dedication and Edification,

Yann.