GREATEST: Poison Anna
The multimedia artist zooms in on her portfolio of improvisational dance, experimental music and self-directed videos ahead of her Paris debut at the 2023 edition of MANIFESTO.
Mixing dub, trip-hop and UK rap, Poison Anna’s music is an amalgamation of her sonic influences as an improvisational dancer, contorting itself seamlessly around chilly, ethereal beats. And like her experience growing up in London, her musical output is a process of self-exploration that exists between the wonders and the claustrophobia of the city. A collaborator of A$AP Rocky and Dean Blunt, she released her debut mixtape, EXCELSiA, in 2021. Since then, her artistic persona has steadily morphed into something beyond the restrictions of audio files, encompassing everything from experimental performances to self-shot videos.
At MANIFESTO, a three-day festival presented by Kaleidoscope and GOAT at Espace Niemeyer during Paris Fashion Week SS24, Poison Anna makes her Paris debut alongside frequent collaborator, French rapper JWLES. Below, Poison Anna opens about her Ghanaian heritage, finding inspiration in the work of René Magritte and the benefits of traveling light.
What have been the biggest changes for you between releasing EXCELSiA in 2021 and now?
Poison Anna: There’s been a lot of personal growth, a lot of evolution. I've been creating a lot of music which has yet to enter the world. I've just been really taking my time and feel like I've been learning a lot—especially learning to be patient.
You’re between Prague and London a lot, right? And you’ve been spending some time in Paris too. How scattered have you been since things opened up post-pandemic?
I'm never in one place. I'm always traveling. I just got back from Morocco. I like to be as minimal as possible when I travel by myself: just a small backpack, hand luggage and a couple things to wear. I just like being in the world. I like going into different cultures and really understanding and learning.
Do you travel with music in mind?
I like to travel and do shows and create a route where I can balance my personal time and then end up at a show, if that makes sense. Last year I traveled a lot through Eastern Europe, finding lakes, hiking up mountains and playing shows. This year, I’ve been traveling with the intention of sitting with myself and finding inspiration.
Are you working on an album? I know you were doing contemporary dance and performance work, too.
I just did a piece at Shoreditch Arts Club called Shadow Self, which was a mix of two tribes from Ghana: mine and another. It was about my journey of acknowledging what my heritage is. It made me go really deep into myself. For me, the last two years were a lot about doing shows. This year, it's very much about the whole-body approach. I'm very much in that space where it doesn't just need to be focused on my voice or my existence. I just want to incorporate as much knowledge as I can into my pieces now. Shadow Self was the first all-dance contemporary piece I created. I kind of incorporate movement in my shows anyway, but there was no vocal performance here, it was all physical theater.
This year, it's very much about the whole-body approach. I'm very much in that space where it doesn't just need to be focused on my voice or my existence.
Poison Anna
I read about your collaboration with Parisian rapper JWLES and watched the “96 Heat” video, which I understand you filmed in the 18th arrondissement—you wanted to pay homage to the real areas of Paris.
We’ve worked together for many years and that was the first thing we properly did together. JWLES lives in the 18th arrondissement. I've been to Paris a few times now, but the first time you come to Paris, you don’t really consider what the real Paris is; the people who live there.
Hanging out with JWLES and going to his area, I just was like, “Wow, this is it.” When people come to London and they stay Central, it's the same thing. It's like, well, do you actually know South London? Do you know the depths of West London? Do you know where the real people live? And I just instantly felt way more comfortable. So the video was a kind of homage to that, to being in the streets, walking, chilling, the guy who works in a local grocery store.
I read that the video was partially inspired by the artist René Magritte—the roses, the concealing of the faces and all those iconic pictorial tropes appear in the video.
When I made that song, I was very much in a place where I was recognizing something from someone I really liked and that they were kind of, in a way, using my presence. I'm kind of mocking it, but it all happened quite organically. JWLES found a rose while we were shooting and then he was just holding it the entire video. It’s also a play on Valentine's Day because we're not in love and we're not actually chasing that love, but it's a love day and it’s about that contrast. I'm very much into this idea that if you expect [something] to be happy, it'll be sad, or if the visual is looking sad, maybe it's more uplifting than you think. Even with EXCELSiA, the cover is Breath of Gaia by Josephine Wall and it makes sense for the song. But if you look at just the visual, you might assume it’s a bit more delicate-sounding than it really is.
I'm very much into this idea that if you expect [something] to be happy, it'll be sad, or if the visual is looking sad, maybe it's more uplifting than you think.
Poison Anna
You two are going to perform together at MANIFESTO. Have you performed together before?
I was playing a show in Marseille in March on my birthday and JWLES pulled up, but this will be our Paris debut. Paris is what connected us as individuals. Whenever I go to Paris, I'm always with JWLES and we're always doing something in the streets.
Espace Niemeyer is this incredible building. Knowing that you've done interpretive work at Shoreditch Arts Club, what are you planning? How are you going to interpret this space for the performance? Is that a consideration?
The space is so incredible that I’m thinking about just letting the environment speak for itself. But I'm incredibly excited about my set because there's some new music in there, and it's quite political in terms of the message.
You've said previously that it's your mission to help people connect and understand their purpose away from society's pressures. Is that purely through music, or how else do you go about that?
I've started to realize that I want to do it through everything I do. How I do it aside from music is by just being open to new people and experiences. I do definitely feel like music, right now, is the main source of that, but if you see me in the world, I will try to spread the knowledge that I have in some way, shape or form.