We were lucky enough to nab five minutes of artist-slash-musician-slash-creative extraordinaire Olana Janfa’s time to chat all things creativity, collaboration and the country he calls home.

You’re best known for your paintings, but you’ve recently released music too. Which of these passions came first? Music definitely came first. I didn’t even know how to draw or paint until after I moved to Australia a few years ago – I started teaching myself in 2018. Growing up in Ethiopia, we didn’t do art classes at school, so I was almost 30 when I learnt that red and yellow make orange, for example. Music was always in our house growing up in Addis. My parents listened to a lot of traditional music and loved Ethiopian artists like Ali Birra, Aster Aweke, Hailu Mergia and Mahmoud Ahmed. Something people don’t always know is that Rastafarians consider Ethiopia their spiritual homeland, so Jamaican music is really big for Ethiopians. Reggae sounds were always around when I was growing up and everybody knew about Bob Marley. I moved to Norway as a teenager in the early 2000s, which exposed me to different styles of music. My social group there was much more diverse – lots of other migrants from around the world. That’s when I started getting into hip hop: Mos Def, 50 Cent, Akon, that type of stuff.

 

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Olana Janfa (@jahnf_bless)

How does your creative process for music compare to that of your art? There is a lot of crossover. Being an outsider living in a different culture, you notice a lot of things that other people don’t see. With painting and music, I often see or hear something that I find interesting or funny and I just create something about it. The impulse for me is to share an idea or make people laugh, or just think about things, maybe from a different angle. I use words and images to express my thoughts, which is why so many of my artworks have captions. I’m not an abstract kind of guy.

You’ve worked with producer Harvey Sutherland on a few of your tracks, including your new single “Price Of The House”. How did you meet? We originally met through his partner, who visited my house to buy a painting for Harvey. After that, she really wanted me and Harvey to meet so I went to his studio and we just hung out. I was impressed by his skills and what he does. He’s a really talented guy. I loved being in that creative atmosphere and one day I just got behind the mic and started to rhyme. I love working with him, so I’m always open to doing more. He’s a busy guy, so hopefully he doesn’t get too busy to let me try out my ideas. I am also lucky enough to work with Swick on music, who produced my debut song “Skillful Man” and earlier release “Mosquito Bite”. I've been pretty lucky to have such great collaborators in Melbourne.

There’s a bit of humour in “Price Of The House”. What’s the story behind this song? I was on the phone with my friend KG. We were talking about how someone we knew had recently bought a house. We’re both from Africa, living in Melbourne, and he said to me, laughing, that if he ever bought a house he would never have any money to leave it. People here talk a lot about saving money to buy a house then having to be careful spending money once they get one. We thought it was funny how hard it can be to keep your social life when your friends are obsessed with this stuff. It’s not like this in Africa.

How do you balance art-making with music-making? Everything comes naturally; I just follow what comes up. I don’t believe in chasing. The more relaxed I am, the more good things happen for me. Most of my time is spent painting, the music is just something I move to when the feeling comes to me – and when I have a producer friend willing to help me make a song out of it.

What does a typical day of creating look like for you? It really varies, which is what I like about it. I have a small studio in my garden shed where I paint. It’s nice to be out there listening to the birds and watching the trees. I can take a break and sit on the step with a coffee – it’s nice. Some days I might be teaching art to kids in schools or leading workshops in galleries. I also do a lot of large-scale public artworks, which is a very different process and takes me to a lot of places that I might never visit. I recently went to Darwin to paint a mural and it changed my life and opened my mind in a huge way to connect with Indigenous culture and the amazing lifestyle up there. No matter where I go, people are always open and curious and welcoming, which is probably my favourite part of doing public works. I play some music, people come to find out what’s going on, they want to chat, it’s good fun.

You’ve lived in Australia for about a decade now. What excites you about the creative scene here? People here in Australia have always been so supportive of my work. I find that Australian people are naturally very curious about other cultures, and I don’t think many people have met an Ethiopian artist from Norway very often. They always want to know my story and to understand where my creative ideas come from. I often reflect that a career like this would not seem possible where I come from, only in Australia. The opportunities I've had are amazing. I’m not a trained artist, I don’t know about technique or art history, I just paint from the heart and have a go. In my art and my music, I don’t mind trying new things, which is a big part of what Australian culture is all about, just “having a go”. Maybe that’s why it resonates.

 

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Olana Janfa (@jahnf_bless)

What projects have you got coming up? I would say, ask me again in six months’ time. Probably another solo exhibition and more mural work in fun locations. Good things always seem to land on my lap and I’m not the type of person to plan much further than tomorrow. So far, 2026 has been one of my busiest years – one recent project involved creating 83 original artworks for the new Footscray Hospital, which was huge. After such a big year, I’m mostly looking forward to taking some time to travel and recharge.

This rad music chinwag comes straight from the pages of issue 133. To get your mitts on a copy, swing past the frankie shop, subscribe or visit one of our lovely stockists.