For this episode of the Picture Theory podcast we had the pleasure of chatting with Kyoko Takenaka and Tobi Adebajo. Tobi happened to be in from the UK where they currently live and Kyoko was in town in Los Angeles so Val introduced us and pitched them the idea of chatting on the podcast and we made it happen on the fly.

For the interview they both wore bright red elastic jumpsuits and poured in some red and blue and purple lights. Before the interview we all went out to grab a bit to eat and ended up finding some spicy Pho to give us some energy.

In this episode there were so many things to talk about. We started chatting about their music project Wastewomxn, which currently has a new album in the works…all the way to their micro-community titled Femmes of Colour...and the related Purple Rain Collective…

Once we got the fire burning we wandered all over the place to find out Kyoko and Tobi’s deeper philosophies and feelings on feminism, ancestral energy and healing to the role of activism in creative expression.

And they even performed a few songs for us.

Here’s a little more about both Tobi and Kyoko:

Tobi Nicole Adebajo is a community-focused Queer, Non- Binary Activist, Educator, Hair Stylist, Parent, Poet, Performer, Singer, Writer & Yoruba Spiritual Practitioner who works with prowess – centring their work on the depths and nuances of topics such as queer love, politics, g(end)er & Yoruba culture.

They’ve performed and shared works and projects in various venues around Nigeria & Europe, continuing to create pieces that resonate with many.

Kyoko Takenaka (Jinjabrew) is an actress, singer-songwriter, filmmaker and multi-media artist based in Los Angeles. Their name Kyoko means"vibrations of sound child" in Japanese. Their short film, HOME, premiered at the Academy Award / BAFTA qualifying 2018 LA Shorts International Film Festival. Their self-directed music video, "Prince," was recognized by the Voiceless International Film Festival. (www.kyokotakenaka.com)