The birth of JupeFruit.

“JupeFruit is the entity that represents an artist.”

baby akan making a comic.

Akaninyene J. Udo-Imeh is a name that you’ve possibly come across at some point in the creative scene of Abuja. From photography to film-making, he does it all and, he does it well.

A creative in his own right, he’s put out work that we can all find a piece of ourselves in, no matter how little or how large. The most intriguing thing about him at first contact is how passionate he is about art; both his and that of others.

Meeting someone who makes it easy to revel in your art merely by being around them is very refreshing and so, on a September morning, Akan and I sat in a cafe with a lovely ambiance. The AC droned on in the background, providing relief from the harsh heat outside. The employees gathered around their station, gossiping in between taking orders. People with stories I’ll never get to know had their meetings around us; a lady who had been sitting before I got there stared wistfully out the window the whole time, experiencing the world in a way that’s unique to her.

As everyone experienced life around us, Akan sat with me to give an insight into his. Meet the father of JupeFruit.

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The mainstay of your animations is a character that looks nothing like you, and yet, represents you. Is that how you see yourself?

It’s strange because that character, I created when I was 12 and I named him ‘Jupe’. Jupe is a mascot. Jupefruit is not me. As you can tell, he looks nothing like me. He has a large baby afro.

He looks like Pencil Spark’s character.

Let me just tell you, JupeFruit was born before Pencil Spark. I have to put that out there! But yeah, he’s not me. He has no resemblance to me but he’s sort of me, in a way.

Do you remember your earliest experience with art?

When I was 6, I was just laying down drawing a comic book. I have a picture by the way. I was lying down, making a comic. I had a very wild imagination as a child. I’d sit down on my own and either doodle or I’d play with my toys and come up with stories.

When I was younger I was interested in music. I remember between kindergarten to grade 1, I used to fantasize about being in a boy band. I’d sit and assign roles to my friends in my head. “This will be the drummer, this will be the guitarist, you play the piano.” I never told them. It was all in my head!

When did you birth JupeFruit?

I found an interest in animation from grade 5. Let me just say this, I was a very strange child. I didn’t care about making friends. I didn’t care about sports or anything. It was just me, by myself, invested in whatever obsession I had at that moment. At that moment, I was into animation and so I did that for fun. I was enjoying myself and eventually, I thought, “Hey, let me just start posting these on YouTube”.

I started doing that under the name Udo-Imeh Productions. I’d post any random thing I made and eventually, I think I was 11 or 12 at the time, one of my friends, Osime, reached out to me. He went, “Hey Akan, I see your channel. It’s cool, it’s nice but your channel name is ass. You should change it”. He was very blunt, very straightforward. I was like, “Yeah bro you’re right. Let’s change it”.

We threw out ideas and then I said a name that rhymed with JupeFruit.

What name rhymed with JupeFruit?

I don’t remember but just know I said something that rhymes.

Do you like fruits?

Yes, I do.

What’s your favorite fruit?

Pineapples I think.

There’s a right answer and pineapple is the wrong one.

You’re the wrong answer.

quick intermission as we argue about fruits.

Okay, you were saying.

Yeah. I said something and I said it a few times. I probably accidentally said JupeFruit. It wasn’t an intentional thing. It’s something I stumbled upon and thought it sounded nice.

When was this?

This was back in 2017.

Oh, you go way back. I assumed you first came into the art scene around 2021 with the Agege Brothers.

That’s a whole chapter.

Yeah. And I’ll be honest, I blocked you guys.

a segment about the Agege Brothers has been excluded.

When did you start putting yourself out there?

Last year.

It seemed to me like you’d been doing that years prior.

Well yes, but nothing intentional. Beforehand, it was me making and trying new things for the fun of it. I’d post one or two things but I wasn’t trying to build a platform. I posted for the sake of posting but come 2023, I decided to put myself out there as a creative and not as anything else. I didn’t want to be known as any one thing. I wanted to be known for my work.

Can you handle rejection?

Yes. Very easily.

Have you heard a lot of ‘no’s’ in your creative journey?

Not so much. I got into the creative scene very intentionally like I said and it’s been forward since then. The only kind of negative traction would be on a personal level, when I don’t like a project I work on enough, thereby discarding it. Regarding everything else that I’ve been doing, It’s been a steady upward incline.

What has been a milestone in your creative journey?

Biennale. It started as a combination of interests.

My team - the people behind WRDO and I like tiny desk concerts so we thought to create something like that. At the same time, I was thinking of doing an art exhibition so we decided to combine those two things. It essentially was meant to be a space where people could show their art.

We had a first edition last year. It went well, although I did not have control, which is fair considering it was the first of its kind.

The recent edition was left for me to handle because everyone involved prior had been out of the country. I was excited to hold the creative reigns and I got to work. I reached out to artists and handled everything. Every artist featured were people that I had met on my creative journey. I got them together to show their art while simultaneously bringing my interests together.

The turn-up blew my mind. When it came to marketing, I put it on my head. I was a one-man army but notwithstanding, I had help. Manuel, Pencil Spark, handled the posters and flyers. He did a really good job on those. Travis, the main owner of WRDO, helped too.

You don’t own WRDO?

No, I don’t. Travis does, but I seem to be the face of the brand. He doesn’t put himself out there much.

Do you have any reservations regarding being the face of the brand?

For a while, no. My main concern was to get the brand out there because I resonate with the message behind it. When Travis reached out to me, I was happy to help. I already had a platform that I am still actively building. I had certain connections and know certain people that are interesting to work with so it didn’t matter if they co-signed WRDO through me or not.

I am happy to use my platform to push the brand. There is success but that success is being attributed to me. Cool, but WRDO is not me, and people need to know that.

That’s interesting, but back to Biennale.

Yes. I did a lot, from the shoots and videos involved in marketing, to pitching it to MSwitch and getting them on board, as well as DunaDura and the artists. Day in, day out I talked about the event to get people to resonate with it. I did not expect that many people to show up.

It didn’t feel like too many people were there. It felt intimate.

Thank God, cause I was scared.

You did a good job because it felt like home to me. I felt like I finally found my people.

That is the goal of Biennale. There were a lot of setbacks on that day. Honestly speaking, from my perspective as that organizer, it didn’t go the way I planned for it to go, but people had a good time regardless. In its little way, it made an impact on the social landscape in Abuja alone. What I really want to impact when it comes to society as a whole is - I want people to shift their value system because amongst a lot of my peers, what is being prioritized and romanticized is the flex, hype, and money culture.

The money culture is fair when you consider the current state of the world.

I respect people who understand what is important and what they need to pursue. Our current world is centered around money but at the same time, as human beings, we need to hold on to culture.

Culture isn’t just tradition and history. It’s the things you do today. Culture is art, culture is expression. Culture is expression and what better way to connect with people than through creating? If you look back on any major influence on human growth and history, it comes down to creativity. Without the Renaissance, we wouldn’t be where we are today.

Art is life. I see art in everything. If you ground yourself, you experience art in everything - the way that the trees move, the way water sounds. Everything.

Quite literally. God is an artist and we were made in his image so by nature, we are too. All I really want to do is make people appreciate that more and create spaces where those who already do can go to feel comfortable.

And for those who don’t already, to feel welcome.

Yes. You mentioned earlier how you weren’t aware of the fact that other people in Abuja, and Nigeria mostly, don’t care for the arts. A lot of people feel the same way. When I was younger and I was just getting into animation, my circle wasn’t in Abuja or Nigeria even, because I was homeschooled.

Really? That’s new.

Yeah, I was homeschooled. I spent lots of time at home and because I was so invested in my own thing, I found a lot of my friends online and abroad. I didn’t interact with people around me. It took starting to put myself out there to see that there are people here who share the same interests as me, who are better than me, who have done this longer than me and it was beautiful to see. Biennale was my way of bringing my discovery into the spotlight and to get more people to be a part of it.

You deserve your flowers.

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Is JupeFruit an alter ego or an extension of yourself?

I wrote something about this in my journal. I’ve been sort of rebranding lately and so, it says, “What is JupeFruit? JupeFruit is the entity that represents an artist.”

You could call it an alter ego but I want it to be something that precedes me. As much as I answer to it, it precedes me; as I said, it’s an entity that represents an artist. That artist is a storyteller, sharing my own unique stories and experiences, as well as the experiences of other people. JupeFruit is the entity of an artist.

Anyone can resonate with JupeFruit. I can collaborate with anybody, create a project and call it a JupeFruit production but, that project came to life from someone else’s experience through JupeFruit.

JupeFruit is doing great work. Thank you, Akan, for bringing it to life.

That’s my child. That’s my brainchild.

When you started, did you think you’d be a staple in the Abuja creative scene?

Am I a staple in the Abuja creative scene?

I think you are. I may have sentiments because I knew you before you started to put out your work. I also see how you put other people’s work out there which leads me to ask, are you a manager?

No, but, I am making strides toward entering creative executive positions. I am slowly leaning towards the business side of things and the way that I interact with a lot of creatives, it seems like I can get into the managing scene cause I meet someone, see their potential and I go, “Everybody needs to see you! Everybody needs to hop on this!”, and so I create opportunities for that to happen; whether by putting them on or offering them shoots so I can put their work out for them. It’s easy to get lost in it and start to think that I am actually a manager but I am not.

And with that being said, you are a staple because you’ve been an instrumental part of the creative endeavors of artists and creatives. Art needs an audience and you’ve been an integral part of curating that audience.

I am very passionate about art and honesty, I don’t care about any sort of profit if the art is good enough. Sometimes, I just want it to get the recognition it deserves.

It’s refreshing to see.

Thank you.

What’s it like for you?

I feel like I am on my way there. I haven’t yet cemented myself enough to be called a staple because, I ask myself, ‘Why should someone work with me? Why should someone pick JupeFruit to handle a project in place of all the other big names in the scene?’

They are people with very specific styles and are good to work with, you know. What separates me from that? It’s part of my rebrand and, it’s after I have done and I put out things that are intentional and meaningful to me and it gets the right recognition that I can say I am a staple.

I have been more focused on putting other things out there, whether it’s an artist that I like or WRDO as a brand, I haven’t done much of myself as an artist. I have put out a couple of personal works and it counts for something but, I don’t think I’m there yet.

You’re well on your way. You have time.

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What’s your creative process like?

It usually starts from my journal. I like to write down thoughts, feelings, and basically anything that’s going on at a given time. Afterward, I go back and think of ways to turn that into something someone can resonate with.

The very first project I worked on, Philophobia, was as a result of a breakup and a lot of the dialogue came directly from my journal. I wrote those things before I thought of making the film. I went back to it, read through it, decided to make something out of it, and then, Philophobia was born. Essentially, I have to experience something to create.

When you create, what’s your end goal?

If I am creating for myself, the end goal is to just pour something out. I genuinely feel a sense of euphoria when I make something, whatever it is. A photo I take, something I write - I look back on it with a sense of pride and it feels good just making things.

If I am creating to put out there, the first thing I do is ask myself, “What is the audience taking from this?”. At its core, I want them to be able to resonate with the story. When you come across something relatable, you feel less alone. It makes things easier for you.

Still using Philophobia as an example - you’ve just come out of a relationship and you’re going through the motions and then you come across something created by someone that has had the same experience as you about that shared experience, it doesn’t give you the hope that you’ll feel better, but you still do because you know that this has happened to someone else. You’re not special. I believe that nobody is special.

Yes and everyone is special at the same time.

Yes actually. But in that experience, you are not special.

It sort of lifts this weight off you. Because sometimes things happen to people and they go, ‘Oh God why me!? Why is this happening to me?’, but it’s not happening to just you. It’s happening to a bunch of other people and knowing that you’re not alone in that feeling makes it better in some way, at least to me.

Life is too harsh to be experienced alone, which is why we need communities and support systems.

Human beings are social creatures by nature.

But we’re fundamentally alone.

That’s the unfortunate thing about the way the world is moving. That’s the important thing about art -through art there is community even if you’re not with someone else physically. When you look at a piece or you watch a film and you relate to it, you know other people are consuming the same thing and relating to it so just by association, you know that you’re a part of something - you’re part of the same feeling.

Acting, digital art, music, animation, film-making, photography, poetry. You can only pick three things out of these things that you do currently, forever. What are they?

Why would you do this to me? You’re a problem.

for the record, we had a good laugh here.

Music is first. It’s the most cathartic form of art for me. Then animation and film. Animation is my baby.

And poetry?

Poetry and music go hand in hand for me.

If music and poetry are the same for you, what’s your favorite poem?

Other side of the game by Erykah Badu. She’s my mother in spirit.

What’s an unusual thing about you?

The fact that I was homeschooled. It’s not very normal in this part of the world.

What was that like for you?

I don’t know. To me, at the time, it wasn’t all that strange. Yes, it’s unusual. I stand out a lot when it comes to general life experiences with school and whatnot. I was okay with it as it was happening. I had a lot of online friends and it just meant more time on the computer for me.

It felt like a blessing and a curse in the sense that I had a lot of time to focus on my interests and develop my skills. I wouldn’t be the person I am right now without that experience but, at the same time, I did miss out on a lot of social activities. It took me a minute to build social skills. I wasn’t one of those weird homeschooled kids but there were social cues that took me a minute to understand.

You’re a spiral. What kind are you?

I do have my center. I do have my main focal point, and that would be my personal philosophy which essentially covers how I feel about humanity and culture, and the way I think certain things should be prioritized by people. Support for each other is essential, and we should lift each other. It’s an idealistic way of thinking but, it can be practiced.

That’s my philosophy that I have held on to for as long as I can remember. That’s my center. Everything I do revolves around that. There are times that I will venture towards other things, but I never stray far from my core, which is to create, build connections, and help people.

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JupeFruit.