Work
I am a German-Afro-American artist working internationally across music, film, and visual storytelling. I began my career as a singer, songwriter and composer and have released two albums on my own independent label, Deserteur. My work as a songwriter has earned two Platinum and one Gold certifications.
Alongside my music career, I have consistently written, co-directed, and creatively led my own music videos, developing a strong foundation in narrative, visual authorship, and performative storytelling.My artistic practice has also been recognized in an academic context. I was invited by the Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK) to discuss my songwriting, composition, and visual language with students in a critical framework.
Over the past several years, I have expanded my work into film, spending extended time in the United States and actively developing original feature projects as a writer and composer. I am currently working on multiple narrative films, including the historical drama 1953, a DE/UK/US co-production, and sci-fi drama z, for which I serve as writer, director, and composer of the original score.
Vision
I approach my work as an expressionist form of storytelling. one that reveals different layers depending on how closely you look or how far you step back. Meaning shifts with distance, emerging through atmosphere, tension, and metaphor rather than explanation.
My artistic language is deliberately unpredictable: sometimes restrained, sometimes loud; at times direct and confrontational, at others understated, elusive, and unsettling. It often carries a provocative, socially reflective edge, using ambiguity as a tool rather than a refuge.
Storytelling unfolds across image, sound, and language, each layer holding its own narrative force while shaping a shared emotional space. Metaphor is central to my work, allowing contradiction, silence, and interpretation to coexist.
This approach began in music, where performance, composition, and theatrical elements merged on stage and continued through music videos as a space for visual and narrative experimentation. Sound functions as a structural force, shaping mood, memory, and perception rather than merely accompanying images.
I now bring this expressionist sensibility fully into film, focusing on screenwriting, directing, and original score composition. creating cinematic worlds that resist comfort, invite friction, and linger beneath the surface.
Photos: IAMJOHANNES