Johanna Adjoa

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Johanna Adjoa is a self-taught visual artist based in Rotterdam. Her paintings are defined by layered surfaces, gesture, and dreamy color compositions, drawing inspiration from her Ghanaian heritage and lived experience.

Paintings By Johanna Adjoa Founded in 2022 Based in Rotterdam
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Her story

Johanna Adjoa began her practice in 2022 as a therapeutic creative outlet, which has since developed into an exploration of making as a process. Working with color, gesture, and layered surfaces, her work focuses on how meaning and form develop through the act of making itself, allowing space for abstraction, emotion, and free interpretation. Her visual language is shaped by lived experience, her Ghanaian heritage and cultural memory through a fluid interplay of color and form within an evolving body of work.

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"Rather than following a single narrative, my work holds space for abstraction, emotion, and open interpretation."

Craftsmanship

Johanna creates paintings on canvas and works on paper. She works in layers, applying and reworking paint over time until the surface reaches a density that reflects the process itself, more than any single decision within it. Each painting develops its own rhythm through colors, material interaction, and decisions made in the moment of making. Her work explores identity, memory, and transformation, layers that hold more than paint, carrying diasporic narratives that connect personal history to broader questions of belonging. Studies and archival pieces from Johanna’s studio practice are also presented, offering insight into the development of ideas and techniques across her practice.

"I work in layers, applying and reworking paint over time until the surface reaches a density that reflects the process itself, more than any single decision within it."

Sustainability

Johanna’s approach to sustainability is rooted in slowness and intention, allowing for greater attention to material and process. Her paintings are often one-of-one works, with limited to no reproductions. Across her practice, emphasis is placed on care, longevity, and working in a way that values depth over excess.

Exhibitions & collaborations

Johanna recently exhibited paintings and textile works during Rotterdam Art Week at Fenix. She art-directed a fashion performance at Limbo Museum in Accra, bringing together Dutch and Ghanaian creatives. She has also presented her works at De Doelen in Rotterdam across an exhibition and art fair.