This series of conversations with art educators, practitioners and makers expands on the ideas presented by Visualise: The Runnymede Trust and Freelands Foundation 2024 report on Race & Inclusion in Secondary School Art Education. In this episode 'Art Outside the Classroom' we are joined by Dr Sadegh Aleahmad, an Iranian-born multi-disciplinary artist, facilitator and lecturer based in London. Sadegh's practice explores dynamics of his diasporic identity by experimenting with mirrors and voice. Today, we discuss Sadegh's art education work beyond the classroom, enabling new ways of thinking, creating and coming together in community.Freelands Foundation works to broaden access to art education and the visual arts across the UK. They work with teachers and educators to develop diverse and ambitious approaches to art education. Read the report Visualise report here. Executive producer and host Lou MensahShade Podcast InstagramShade Podcast WebsiteMusic King Henry IV original composition for Shade Podcast by Brian JacksonEdit & Mix by Tess DavidsonPodcast design Joel Antoine-WilkinsonShade Art Review Help support the work that goes into creating Shade Podcast. https://plus.acast.com/s/shadepodcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This series of conversations with art educators, practitioners and makers expands on the ideas presented by Visualise: The Runnymede Trust and Freelands Foundation 2024 report on Race & Inclusion in Secondary School Art Education. In this episode 'Classroom Portraits' we are joined by Exodus Crooks, a Birmingham-based multi-disciplinary artist and educator who works with installation, film-making and text. Through their practice they explore ideas of self-determination, religion and spirituality at the intersection of education, using their role as a teacher to re-imagine Western pedagogy. Exodus has previously exhibited with Iniva, Ikon Gallery and the National Gallery, among others. Today they’ll be joining me to discuss their experience as both an educator and former student, and how we can transform the art curriculum within the classroom. Freelands Foundation works to broaden access to art education and the visual arts across the UK. They work with teachers and educators to develop diverse and ambitious approaches to art education. Read the report Visualise report here. Executive producer and host Lou MensahShade Podcast InstagramShade Podcast WebsiteMusic King Henry IV original composition for Shade Podcast by Brian JacksonEdit & Mix by Tess DavidsonEditorial support from Anne KimunguyiPodcast design Joel Antoine-Wilkinson Help support the work that goes into creating Shade Podcast. https://plus.acast.com/s/shadepodcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This new weekly, five part series of conversations with art educators, practitioners and makers expands on the ideas presented by Visualise: The Runnymede Trust and Freelands Foundation 2024 report on Race & Inclusion in Secondary School Art Education. These conversations aim to support educators in providing a more diverse art curriculum. In today's episode 'Broad canvas' I talk with Henry Ward, an artist, educator and the Director of Freelands Foundation and Shabna Begum, CEO of the Runnymede Trust who give an overview of the UK arts education ecosystem.Freelands Foundation works to broaden access to art education and the visual arts across the UK. They work with teachers and educators to develop diverse and ambitious approaches to art education. Read the report Visualise report here. Apologies for the disruption to sound quality in this episode.Executive producer and host Lou MensahShade Podcast InstagramShade Podcast WebsiteMusic King Henry IV original composition for Shade Podcast by Brian JacksonEdit & Mix by Tess DavidsonEditorial support from Anne Kimunguyi Help support the work that goes into creating Shade Podcast. https://plus.acast.com/s/shadepodcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Enjoy our special episode which captures and reflects on a discussion on new approaches to sculpture outdoors which took place at the inaugural London Sculpture Week symposium at London Metropolitan University on 25th September 2024. The discussion features contributions from the following speakers:Jo Baxendale, Visual Arts Project Manager Fourth Plinth, Greater London Authority Sarah Carrington, Deputy Director, The Line Dr Libby Heaney, Artist, Frieze Sculpture Stella Ioannou, Artistic Director, Sculpture in the City and Founding Director, LacunaKatie Schwab, Artist, The Line Vanessa da Silva, Artist, Sculpture in the City Dr Jacek Ludwig Scarso, Moderator and Deputy Director, CREATUREFatoş Üstek, Independent writer and curator, Frieze Sculpture  The LSW symposium was developed by The Line in collaboration with CREATURE at London Metropolitan University and supported by Arts Council England and Bloomberg Connects, the official digital partner for London Sculpture Week.This episode is sponsored by Bloomberg Connects, the free arts and culture app. The app gives access to over 550 free guides of museum, galleries, sculpture parks, gardens, and other art spaces around the world. Bloomberg Connects is the official digital guide for London Sculpture Week and presents free content for Frieze Sculpture, The Line, Sculpture in the City and the Fourth Plinth. Download the app to discover more.Please support our independent podcast by donating £5 hereRead Shade Art Review Shade Art Review 20% discount codeShade Podcast InstagramShade Podcast WebsiteShade Podcast is Executive produced and hosted by Lou MensahMusic King Henry IV for Shade Podcast by Brian JacksonEdit & Mix by Tess DavidsonSymposium recording by Innerar. Help support the work that goes into creating Shade Podcast. https://plus.acast.com/s/shadepodcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Donald Rodney (b. 1961, West Bromwich; d. 1998, London) worked across sculpture, installation, drawing, painting, and digital media, experimenting with new materials and technologies throughout his life. His work is known for being incisive, acerbic, and evocative in its analysis of the prejudices and injustices surrounding racial identity, Black masculinity, chronic illness, and Britain's colonial past. Rodney was also co-founding member of the BLK Art Group: an association of young Black artists formed in Wolverhampton in 1982.Visceral Canker is the major survey of the artist’s work at Spike Island, bringing together all of Rodney's surviving works. This includes large-scale oil pastels on X-rays, kinetic and animatronic sculptures, and restaged installations, as well as sketchbooks and rare archive materials, spanning 1982 to 1997. Also on display is Autoicon (1997–2000), an interactive digital artwork initiated by Rodney and finalised by a group of his close friends after he died from sickle cell anaemia in 1998. The exhibition is curated by Robert Leckie, Spike Island’s former Director, and Nicole Yip - the gallery’s new director. Today, I am joined by both Nicole and Robert, to discuss the life and work of Donald Rodney, the ambitions of the exhibition and the complexities involved in interpreting an artist’s work once they are no longer with us. The exhibition will tour at Nottingham Contemporary from 28 September 2024 to 5 January 2025 and at Whitechapel Gallery from 12 February to 18 May 2025.Please support our independent podcast by donating £5 hereRead Shade Art Review Shade Art Review Series 11 | 20% discount codeShade Podcast InstagramShade Podcast WebsiteShade Podcast is Executive produced and hosted by Lou MensahMusic King Henry IV for Shade Podcast by Brian JacksonEdit & Mix by Mae-Li EvansEditorial support from Anne Kimunguyi Help support the work that goes into creating Shade Podcast. https://plus.acast.com/s/shadepodcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Enjoy our special episode from the exhibition When We See Us: A Century of Black Figuration in Painting at Kunstmuseum in Basel recorded by Anne Kimunguyi. Many of you know Anne from her Shade Art Review. features.Our guest is Head of Contemporary Art at Kunstmuseum Basel, Maja Wismer. As part of her role, she specialises in art of the late 20th and early 21st century, having previously held the role of Curatorial Fellow at the Busch Reisinger Museum of the Harvard Art Museums. Based at the Kunstmuseum, her previous work has seen the realisation of the exhibition ‘Kara Walker. A Black Hole is Everything a Star Longs to be’, as well as projects involving the move of the works of Joseph Beuys from the newly created space – Museum fur Gegenwarsknust, a museum dedicated exclusively to contemporary art in 1980. Please help save our independent podcast by donating £5 hereRead Shade Art Review Shade Art Review Series 11 | 20% discount codeShade Podcast InstagramShade Podcast WebsiteShade Podcast is Executive produced and hosted by Lou MensahMusic King Henry IV for Shade Podcast by Brian JacksonEdit & Mix by Mae-Li EvansEditorial support from Anne Kimunguyi Help support the work that goes into creating Shade Podcast. https://plus.acast.com/s/shadepodcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Matthew Krishanu (b.1980, Bradford, UK) paints atmospheric, pared-back compositions including scenes from the artist’s life, particularly his childhood years in Bangladesh growing up with his brother, and their parents—a British Christian missionary and an Indian theologian. In the paintings, seemingly familiar narratives are alluded to but destabilised. The viewer’s own projections are called upon to fulfil the interpretive loop, raising questions about childhood, religion, race, power, and the legacies of empire.The Bough Breaks is showing at Camden Art Centre until June 23. Krishanu's forthcoming solo exhibition will show at Tanya Leighton L.A., in the autumn.Read Shade Art Review Shade Art Review Series 11 | 20% discount codeShade Podcast InstagramShade Podcast WebsiteShade Podcast is Executive produced and hosted by Lou MensahMusic King Henry IV for Shade Podcast by Brian JacksonEdit & Mix by Mae-Li EvansEditorial support from Anne Kimunguyi Help support the work that goes into creating Shade Podcast. https://plus.acast.com/s/shadepodcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to the second of our episodes from the 60th International Art Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia. I am delighted to welcome back Aindrea Emelife as my guest. Aindrea is a curator and art historian of modern and contemporary art, whose practise specializes in colonial and decolonial African histories and the politics of representation. Aindrea is the curator of Nigeria Imaginary at the Nigeria Pavilion at this year’s Venice Biennale, which sees the country participating in the festival for the second time. The pavilion will show projects made in collaboration with the Museum of West African Art, where Aindrea is also a curator. Today, we will be getting an exciting introduction into this year’s Nigeria Pavilion andhearing a bit more about the participating artists, their works and the curatorial thinking behind this year’s exhibition.Enjoy a review, including images of Nigeria Imaginary written by Anne Kimunguyi in today's special edition of Shade Art Review.Read Shade Art Review Shade Art Review 20% discount codeShade Podcast InstagramShade Podcast is Executive produced and hosted by Lou MensahMusic King Henry IV for Shade Podcast by Brian JacksonEditing and mixing by Tess DavidsonEditorial support by Anne KimunguyiNigeria ImaginaryAindrea Emelife Help support the work that goes into creating Shade Podcast. https://plus.acast.com/s/shadepodcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to the first of our episodes from the 60th International Art Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia.Today, I am delighted to hand the mic to my dear friend the arts writer Dale Berning Sawa, who met with John Akomfrah at the preview of The British Council commission Listening All Night To The Rain. You'll also hear from me in this episode and Dale shares a reflection on her first Venice experience and conversation with the artist on this special occasion. You can also enjoy Dale's review of Listening All Night To The Rain and images from the exhibition, in Shade Art Review. today.Listening All Night To The Rain continues artist and filmmaker John Akomfrah’s investigation into themes of memory, migration, racial injustice and climate change with a renewed focus on the act of listening and the sonic. The exhibition, conceived as a single installation with eight interlocking and overlapping multi-screen sound and time-based works, is seen as a manifesto that encourages the idea of listening as activism and positions various progressive theories of acoustemology: how new ways of becoming are rooted in different forms of listening. Encouraging visitors to experience the British Pavilion’s 19th century neoclassical building in a different way, Akomfrah’s commission interprets and transforms the fabric of the space in order to interrogate relics and monuments of colonial histories.John Akomfrah initially came to prominence in the early 1980s as part of the Black Audio Film Collective (BAFC), a collective founded in 1982. An early film by BAFC, titled Handsworth Songs (1986), explored the events around the 1985 riots in Birmingham and London. In recent years, Akomfrah’s work has evolved into ambitious, multi-channel installations presented in galleries and museums worldwide. In 2017, he won the Artes Mundi prize, the UK’s biggest award for international art. He has previously participated in the 58th Venice Viennale with Four Nocturnes, commissioned for the inaugural Ghana Pavilion in 2019, and Vertigo Sea (2015) as part of the 56th International Art Exhibition. The British Council commission Listening All Night To The Rain at the Venice Biennale 2024 runs from Saturday 20 April to Sunday 24 November 2024. Read Shade Art Review Shade Art Review 20% discount codeShade Podcast InstagramShade Podcast is Executive produced and hosted by Lou MensahMusic King Henry IV for Shade Podcast by Brian JacksonEditing and mixing by Tess DavidsonDale Berning SawaBritish PavilionVenice Biennale Help support the work that goes into creating Shade Podcast. https://plus.acast.com/s/shadepodcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Legacy Russell is Executive Director & Chief Curator of the experimental arts institution The Kitchen, one of New York's oldest non-profit spaces. She is writer, curator and author of the critically acclaimed Glitch Feminism: A Manifesto. I am delighted to have Legacy join me to talk about Black Meme, which is due to be published on May 7th. Black Meme focuses on the history and production of the ‘Meme’ – tracing through Black visual culture from its first appearance in the early 20th century all the way through to present times. It is a critical dissection of race, class, and gender as performed online and offline and emphasizes the central role that Black contributions have played in the development of digital culture.  On the ‘Meme’, Legacy says:’ I want to talk about the economy and engine of this and perhaps push further a discussion about how we can hold ourselves accountable to how this material is produced and circulated.” Black Meme is available to purchase online and in stores from May 7th. Here is a link to Legacy's talk on The New Bend exhibition, as mentioned in Lou's intro. Read Shade Art Review Shade Art Review Series 10 | 20% discount codeShade Podcast InstagramShade Podcast is Executive produced and hosted by Lou MensahMusic King Henry IV for Shade Podcast by Brian JacksonEditing and mixing by Tess DavidsonEditorial support from Anne Kimunguyi Help support the work that goes into creating Shade Podcast. https://plus.acast.com/s/shadepodcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ibrahim Mahama is an installation artist who works with textiles, material production and found objects to create large-scale public interventions. He initially garnered widespread attention for his open-air installations made of stitched-together jute sacks that were draped on or over architectural structures, such as libraries, an airport, and a museum, in the cities of Accra and Kumasi, where he is based. His practise involves a collaborative process of sourcing, collecting, reproducing and installing the often-textile based materials he works with. His pieces speak to ideas around historical memories, traditional belief systems, local economies and the democratisation of art. Ibrahim’s works have been shown in various group and solo shows, including The Norval Foundation in Cape Town, The White Cube in London and Hong Kong and has been a part of the Ghana Pavilion for 2019 Venice Biennale, among many others. In this episode, Ibrahim and I discuss his new large-scale public commission at the Barbican, the process behind creating this work and his hopes for its reception.Ibrahim Mahama Purple Hibiscus runs at the Lakeside Terrace at the Barbican from April 10 - 18 August 2024 and is free to the public.Read Shade Art Review Shade Art Review Series 10 | 20% discount codeShade Podcast InstagramShade Podcast is Executive produced and hosted by Lou MensahMusic King Henry IV for Shade Podcast by Brian JacksonEditing and mixing by Tess DavidsonEditorial support from Anne Kimunguyi Help support the work that goes into creating Shade Podcast. https://plus.acast.com/s/shadepodcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Michael Ohajuru is a London-based art historian who returns to the podcast to discuss the John Blanke project, a large gathering of artists and historians who have come together to re-imagine John Blanke, the black trumpeter to the courts of Henry 7th and Henry 8th and the first person of African descent in British history that we have both a visual and written record of. The participating artists include Keith Piper, Wole Lagunju, Phoebe Boswell, Paul Dash and Larry Achiampong. David Olusoga Professor of Public History at the University of Manchester says of the project:"The John Blanke Project redefines historical exploration by merging practical scholarship with innovation and critical imagination. Anchored in social justice, it reveals the overlooked narratives of Black Tudor England, enriching our grasp of diversity and British identity. By blending art and history, it encourages a deeper, empathetic engagement with our shared past, advocating for a more inclusive and equitable understanding of history."Thanks for listening to this independent podcast. You can support this work by reviewing and sharing the podcast or becoming a Shade Art Review subscriber.Read Shade Art Review Shade Art Review Series 10 | 20% discount codeShade Podcast InstagramShade Podcast is Executive produced and hosted by Lou MensahMusic King Henry IV for Shade Podcast by Brian JacksonEditing and mixing by Tess DavidsonEditorial support from Anne Kimunguyi Help support the work that goes into creating Shade Podcast. https://plus.acast.com/s/shadepodcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Joy Gregory (b. 1959. Bicester, UK). Born in the UK to Jamaican parents, Joy Gregory’s work explores the impact of colonialism on global perceptions of beauty, memory, botany, health and traditional knowledge. As a photographer, Gregory has worked over decades in various media, including video, digital and analogue photography, film installation, Victorian print processes and more recently textiles; exploring photography as technology and as mode of artistic expression. She is interested in understanding how individuals and communities remember and interpret their history, particularly in relation to their connection to the land.Joy & Lou discuss the themes of process and practice as they have developed throughout the artist’s four decade career. In June, Art on the Underground will unveil a new series of Joy’s artworks at Heathrow Terminal 4 Underground station - envisaging Heathrow as a portal of entry and exit. I spoke with Joy in February, as she embarked on her partnership with Hillingdon-based charity Refugees in Effective and Active Partnership (REAP) facilitating a series of photographic workshops with asylum seekers living in hotels in the Heathrow area, as well as a community group for Afghan women in Hayes and Harlington. These workshops will inform the creation of her artwork for Heathrow Terminal 4, giving space to the stories of newly arrived Londoners, displaced people whose realities are increasingly maligned and misrepresented. The work will offer an indelible trace of the cultures, languages and hopes which coalesce in London. In the Autumn of 2025, Whitechapel Gallery will stage Joy’s first monographic exhibition, surveying a four-decade practice.Thanks for listening to this independent podcast. You can support this work by reviewing and sharing the podcast or becoming a Shade Art Review subscriber (follow the link below for details).Read Shade Art Review Shade Art Review Series 10 | 20% discount codeShade Podcast InstagramShade Podcast is Executive produced and hosted by Lou MensahMusic King Henry IV for Shade Podcast by Brian JacksonEditing and mixing by Tess DavidsonEditorial support from Anne Kimunguyi Help support the work that goes into creating Shade Podcast. https://plus.acast.com/s/shadepodcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This evening, 21 March '24 6 - 8pm GMT: Artist Talk - Tiona Nekkia McClodden at White Cube Bermondsey, London. Tiona will discuss the impetus of her solo exhibition ‘A MERCY | DUMMY’, which spans two discrete bodies of works produced alongside each other. McClodden will explore the impulse to present two bodies of works together for the first time in her career through a choreographed sharing of her collection of archival research, music, video, and texts. Reserve a spot here. MERCY | DUMMY runs until 24 March.Tiona Nekkia McClodden (b.1981, Blytheville, Arkansas) spent her formative years throughout the American South. Trained as a filmmaker, McClodden worked largely within the punk and club scene in Atlanta before moving to Philadelphia in 2006 and expanding her practice to include painting, sculpture, photography and installation.Recent solo exhibitions include Baltimore Museum of Art, Maryland (2023); Kunsthalle Basel, Switzerland (2023); The Shed, New York (2022); 52 Walker, New York (2022); The Triple Deities, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (2021); and Company Gallery, New York (2019). Selected group exhibitions include Solomon R. Guggenheim, New York (2023–24); El Museo del Barrio in New York (2022–23), touring to Phoenix Art Museum, Arizona (2023) and Museum of Contemporary Art, North Miami, Florida (2023–24); ICA Los Angeles, California (2022); Prospect 5, New Orleans, Louisiana (2021–22); Philadelphia Museum of Art, Pennsylvania (2021); New Museum, New York (2021); Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin (2019); and the Whitney Biennial, New York (2019). Other presentations of her work have been on view at MOCA, Los Angeles, California (2017); MCA Chicago, Illinois (2017); and MoMA PS1, New York (2016). In recent years, McClodden has won prestigious grants and fellowships, including the Warhol Foundation Arts Writers Grant (2022), Princeton Arts Fellowship (2021–23); the Bucksbaum Award, Whitney Museum of American Art (2019); Guggenheim Fellowship in Fine Arts (2019); the Louis Comfort Tiffany Award (2017); and the Pew Fellowship (2016), while running Conceptual Fade, a project gallery and library she founded in 2020 that hosts micro-exhibitions and publications centred on Black art and conceptual practice.Work by McClodden is in the permanent collections of the Baltimore Museum of Art, Maryland; MoMA, New York; Philadelphia Museum of Art, Pennsylvania; and Rennie Museum, Canada.Read Shade Art Review Shade Art Review Series 10 | 20% discount codeShade Podcast InstagramShade Podcast is Executive produced and hosted by Lou MensahMusic King Henry IV for Shade Podcast by Brian JacksonEditing and mixing by Tess DavidsonEditorial support from Anne Kimunguyi Help support the work that goes into creating Shade Podcast. https://plus.acast.com/s/shadepodcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to the final episode in my seven part, end of year series! Inspired by the Black radical tradition of the harmony between the lyrical and visual, I am joined by friends to explore the musical influences that inspire their work. We also look to the people, real and imagined, familial and ancestral who guide them.Cynthia is a costume designer, whose work you will have seen in successful British films, like the recent Rye Lane directed by Raine Allen-Miller. Cynthia's currently showing work at Somerset House in London as part of the exhibition Missing Thread, which charts the shifting landscape of Black British culture and the unique contribution it's made to Britain's design history. Our friendship began in the early 2000s, when we worked together in my capacity as a photographer.It was Cynthia's generosity of ideas and her unique approach to design that inspired me and makes her one of the most revered costume designers today. Cynthia and I sneaked in a super quick, ten minute conversation whilst she was on set last week. She shares her musical influences and talks about how music is the foundation of her design for all of her characters.Please share and review this independent Black art show. Thank you!ENJOY!Follow us:Shade Podcast Spotify Playlist (updated daily)Shade Art Review Shade Art Review Christmas offer codeShade Podcast InstagramMissing Thread Exhibition Somerset HouseCynthia Lawrence John AgentCynthia Lawrence John InstagramThis series was produced and hosted by Lou MensahMusic King Henry IV for Shade Podcast by Brian JacksonMixing by Tess Davidson Help support the work that goes into creating Shade Podcast. https://plus.acast.com/s/shadepodcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to the penultimate episode in this Christmas series of conversations. Inspired by the Black radical tradition of the harmony between the lyrical and visual, I am joined by friends artists to explore the musical influences that inspire their work. We also look to the people, real and imagined, familial and ancestral who guide them. Rashod Taylor is a Missouri-based photographer whose photographs are a window into the Black American experience. His work uses portraiture to address themes of family, race, culture, and legacy. Rashod is most recognised for his Little Black Boy series, an ongoing project featuring his son, which earned him an Arnold Newman Prize. His work is actively collected by the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston and has been featured in publications including National Geographic, The New Yorker, The Atlantic, The Guardian, Forbes, and many more. His photographs embody a communing of influences from the past, present, and future, he says ”I tell the story of my family history and my story, in my son's story.” Our conversation begins with Rashod telling us about the influence of negro spiritual songs on his work.ENJOY! Please share and review this independent show. Thank you!Follow us:Shade Podcast Spotify Playlist (updated daily)Shade Art Review Shade Art Review Christmas offer codeShade Podcast InstagramRashod Taylor WebsiteRashod Taylor InstagramThis series was produced and hosted by Lou MensahMusic King Henry IV for Shade Podcast by Brian JacksonMixing by Tess Davidson Help support the work that goes into creating Shade Podcast. https://plus.acast.com/s/shadepodcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to this seven part, end of year series - new episodes are released each weekday between Dec 13-21. Inspired by the Black radical tradition of the harmony between the lyrical and visual. I am joined by friends (artists, dancers, musicians) to explore the musical influences that inspire their work. We also look to the people, real and imagined, familial and ancestral who guide them.Tyrone is a concept driven artist whose skills originate from Jazz and Hip-Hop Theatre. Working as a performer across dance and music, his practice has grown to become a mixture of Krump, contemporary dance, visual art & Jazz music. He performs in Julian Knxx's latest exhibition Chorus in Rememory of Flight, currently running at the Barbican. "There's already a musical language that is embedded in the ideas of that work because of the way Julian is working with choirs, and then I can try and translate that into movement. I have a good relationship with Julian and there's a lot of trust. So in some ways, we've established a chorus."He recently released his debut LP, S!ck - and was called ”one to watch" by Giles Peterson this year. Commissions include a full length theatre work for the Barbican 'An Earnest Life', a duet for Dance Umbrella, Beyond Words & an international Solo work for Hayley Matthews Ensemble. He is a Steve Reid Innovation Award 2019-2020 recipient, and a 2020 Artist in Residence at Clarence Mews Space, 2021 East London Ideas Fund Awardee & 2022 Peter Whittingham Jazz recipient and a 2023 Take Five jazz awardees.ENJOY! Please share and review this independent show. Thank you!Follow us:Shade Podcast Spotify Playlist (updated daily)Shade Art Review Shade Art Review Christmas offer codeShade Podcast InstagramTyrone S!ck LPTyrone x Julian Knxx at The BarbicanTyrone InstagramThis series was produced and hosted by Lou MensahMusic King Henry IV for Shade Podcast by Brian JacksonMixing by Tess Davidson Help support the work that goes into creating Shade Podcast. https://plus.acast.com/s/shadepodcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to this seven part, end of year series! New episodes released each weekday between Dec 13-21. Inspired by the Black radical tradition of the harmony between the lyrical and visual. I am joined by friends (artists, dancers, musicians) to explore the musical influences that inspire their work. We also look to the people, real and imagined, familial and ancestral who guide them. Today I am joined by Jose Campos, who is also known by his artist name, Studio Lenca.Jose considers himself to be an artist that doesn’t belong anywhere apart from the world he creates.He says that “I have a deep longing to connect with the land of my ancestors. It’s a longing that I don’t realise is always there until it gets fulfilled.” Jose was forcibly displaced as a consequence of El Salvador’s civil war, he one of the first wave of child migrants moving to the USA. Travelling illegally with his mother, the family lived as ‘illegal aliens’, cleaning houses with no fixed address. His paintings depict regal figures that seek to decentralise the collective idea of Salvadoran identity.The work playfully references a combination of biographical anecdotes, personal reflections and folkloric iconography.ENJOY!Please share and review this independent show. Thank you!Follow us:Shade Podcast Spotify Playlist (updated daily)Shade Art Review Shade Art Review Christmas offer codeShade Podcast InstagramStudio Lenca @ TKE Studios in Margate.Studio Lenca website.Representation Carl Freedman Gallery.This series was produced and hosted by Lou MensahMusic King Henry IV for Shade Podcast by Brian JacksonMixing by Tess Davidson Help support the work that goes into creating Shade Podcast. https://plus.acast.com/s/shadepodcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to my seven part end of year series! New episodes will be released each weekday between Dec 13-21. Inspired by the Black radical tradition of the harmony between the lyrical and visual, I am joined by friends (artists, dancers, musicians and in today's episode an art specialist) to explore the musical influences that inspire their work. We also look to the people, real and imagined, familial and ancestral who guide them. Get ready to be inspired!Helene is Head of Sale and a specialist in Modern and Contemporary African art at Bonhams. She travels to Ghana regularly and specializes on art from that region. Her expertise also extends to 20th century Africa. Our conversation reveals just how knowledgeable Helene also is on African music and she recommends some excellent tunes from the continent that inspire her. We start our conversation hearing about a moment where she was talking with her SOAS tutor eight years ago, which led her on the journey to her current role at Bonhams. Stay tuned until the end to hear Helene's fantastic music recommendations!Please share this series and review! Thank you!ENJOY! Follow us:Shade Podcast Spotify Playlist (updated daily)Shade Art Review Shade Art Review Christmas offer codeShade Podcast InstagramAfrican Art History InstagramBonhamsThis series was produced and hosted by Lou MensahMusic King Henry IV for Shade Podcast by Brian JacksonMixing by Tess Davidson Help support the work that goes into creating Shade Podcast. https://plus.acast.com/s/shadepodcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to my seven part end of year series! New episodes will be released each weekday between Dec 13-21. Inspired by the Black radical tradition of the harmony between the lyrical and visual, I am joined by friends (artists, dancers, musicians) to explore the musical influences that inspire their work. We also look to the people, real and imagined, familial and ancestral who guide them. Get ready to be inspired!Today I am delighted to introduce my friend, Axel Kacoutié - the multi-award-winning creator who's been crafting sound, music, and words to challenge the familiar and revive a magic in the mundane. Previously the Creative Director of Sound at The Guardian, their work has featured on the BBC, Spotify and in physical spaces like the Barbican, Tate Modern & Sundance Film Festival. They’ve received British Podcast Awards, ARIAs, Third Coast awards and many, many more. Some of you may know Axel from our work together Black Balloons for Tate Modern, Interludes podcast series on art and healing and Wandering where we walk with creatives through art spaces. We start by hearing Axel talk about their work A Mother Tongue which is a personal essay reflecting on language, created for the BBC. They also mention Gatekeeper where Axel discovers a new sense of self in the cosmologies, concepts and realities of queer and indigenous folks. In this piece we hear Axel say "Somewhere between the narrow entry of Who I am and What I seem to be, lies a vast and nameless place.” It is this vast and nameless place that Axel and I visit in todays conversation.ENJOY! Please review & share!Follow us:Shade Podcast Spotify Playlist (updated daily)Shade Art Review Shade Art Review Christmas offer codeShade Podcast InstagramGatekeeper by Axel KacoutiéA Mother Tongue by Axel KacoutiéV & A East The Music is Black Film sound designed by Axel KacoutiéAxel Kacoutié InstagramThis series was produced and hosted by Lou MensahMusic King Henry IV for Shade Podcast by Brian JacksonMixing by Tess Davidson Help support the work that goes into creating Shade Podcast. https://plus.acast.com/s/shadepodcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

WELCOME TO SERIES NINE!This is my end of year series! New episodes will be released each weekday, between Dec 13-21. Inspired by the Black radical tradition of the harmony between the lyrical and visual. I am joined by friends (artists, dancers, photographers, musicians) to explore the musical influences that inspire their work. We also look to the people, real and imagined, familial and ancestral who guide them. Get ready to be inspired!Today I am delighted to introduce a special episode, with my friend the musician Brian Jackson. You may know Brian's work from his partnership with Gil Scott-Heron, together they made ten albums over an eight year period, including Pieces of a Man and Winter in America.Time and time again that music has found its way onto over 100 cuts like Common's The People (from We Almost Lost Detroit) and Kendrick Lamar's Poe Mans Dreams (from Peace Go With You, Brother). Brian is still building with artists as diverse as Adrian Younge and Ali Shaheed Muhammad (Midnight Hour, A Tribe Called Quest) to the vocalist Gregory Porter.I started by asking Brian about Langston Hughes, and how his legacy brought he and Gil together, where they followed in the footsteps of not only Langston Hughes but also Thurgood Marshall, Kwame Nkrumah and Oscar Brown Jr. Brian says in our conversation:”It [Lincoln] just seemed like a logical place for me to continue my journey into Afrocentricity.” "Gil used to call our songs, our albums, survival kits on wax. And, you know, that's just another way of looking at the Griot tradition. Because, it was his responsibility to heal the community. It's spiritual work.""I'm gonna tell you Lou, before it's all over, I'm gonna do a Christmas album. What you think about that?!"Please share and review this independent show. Thank you!ENJOY!Follow us:Shade Podcast Spotify Playlist (updated daily)Shade Art Review Shade Art Review Christmas offer codeShade Podcast InstagramBrian Jackson InstagramBrian Jackson NYTimesPieces of a Man PodcastThis is Brian Jackson Jazz Is DeadThis series was produced and hosted by Lou MensahMusic King Henry IV for Shade Podcast by today's guest Brian JacksonMixing Tess Davidson Help support the work that goes into creating Shade Podcast. https://plus.acast.com/s/shadepodcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to Wandering. A four part series of immersive podcast gallery walks, brought to you by Shade Podcast and Axel Kacoutié.Today we meet the artist Harold Offeh at the Dulwich Picture Gallery in London as he prepares to present work in their forthcoming exhibition, Soulscapes.Opening on Feb 14th 2024, Soulscapes is a major exhibition of landscape art. Featuring more than 30 contemporary works, it will span painting, photography, film, tapestry and collage from leading artists including Harold Offeh, Hurvin Anderson, Phoebe Boswell, Njideka Akunyili Crosby, Kimathi Donkor, Isaac Julien, Marcia Michael, Mónica de Miranda and Alberta Whittle, as well as some of the most important emerging voices working today.Soulscapes will explore our connection with the world around us through the eyes of artists from the African Diaspora. Discover more episodes in this series as we meet Zakia Sewell, Nabihah Iqbal and Kayo Chingyoni, as they enjoy artworks in the National Portrait Gallery, Sir John Soane's Museum and Graves Gallery. Sponsored by Bloomberg Connects, the arts and culture app. The free app offers access to more than 250 cultural organizations through a single download, with new guides being added every week. To explore the Dulwich Picture Gallery guide, and many more, download the app today from the App Store or Google Play. Help support the work that goes into creating Shade Podcast. https://plus.acast.com/s/shadepodcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to Wandering. A four part series of immersive podcast gallery walks, brought to you by Shade Podcast and Axel Kacoutié.Today we meet writer, editor and broadcaster, Kayo Chingonyi at the Graves Gallery in Sheffield, as he meditates on process and practice and what Patrick Caulfield's, The Hermit reveals to him.Artworks Discussed in this listen: The Hermit, (1966) - Patrick CaulfieldFountains Fell, Yorkshire Dales, 3 August 2008, (2016) - Simon RobertsDiscover more episodes in this series as we meet Zakia Sewell, Nabihah Iqbal and Harold Offeh as they enjoy artworks in the National Portrait Gallery, Sir John Soane's Museum and Dulwich Picture Gallery. Listen today on the Bloomberg Connects app or search for Shade Podcast wherever you download your podcasts.Sponsored by Bloomberg Connects, the arts and culture app. The free app offers access to more than 250 cultural organizations through a single download, with new guides being added every week. To explore the Graves Gallery guide, and many more, download the app today from the App Store or Google Play. Help support the work that goes into creating Shade Podcast. https://plus.acast.com/s/shadepodcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today we meet musician, producer, broadcaster and DJ Nabihah Iqbal at Sir John Soane's Museum in London as she explores the many trinkets and secrets, hidden in the open.Wandering is brought to you by Shade Podcast and Axel Kacoutié.Discover more episodes in this series as we meet Zakia Sewell, Kayo Chingonyi and Harold Offeh as they discover artworks in the National Portrait Gallery, Graves Gallery and Dulwich Picture Gallery. Listen today on the Bloomberg Connects app or search for Shade Podcast wherever you download your podcasts.Sponsored by Bloomberg Connects, the arts and culture app. The free app offers access to more than 250 cultural organizations through a single download, with new guides being added every week. To explore the Sir John Soane's Museum guide, and many more, download the app today from the App Store or Google Play. Help support the work that goes into creating Shade Podcast. https://plus.acast.com/s/shadepodcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Broadcaster, DJ and writer Zakia Sewell walks with us in the National Portrait Gallery in London. Zakia reflects on how memory and legacy influence our way of seeing, and how our contemporary eyes judge the face of history. We ask, to what extent is a portrait a mirror? We view a photographic portrait of Sarah Forbes Bonetta (1843-80)Room 23, Floor 2. Historian and essayist; Trustee of the National Portrait Gallery, Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881) and explorer once a Governor of Jamaica, Edward John Eyre (1815-1901). Room 23, Floor 2.  Subscribe to Shade Podcast to listen to future episodes of Wandering featuring our guests Nabihah Iqbal, Kayo Chingonyi and Harold Offeh as they discover artworks in the Sir John Soane's Museum, Graves Gallery and Dulwich Picture Gallery.Wandering is brought to you by Shade Podcast and Axel Kacoutié.Sponsored by Bloomberg Connects, the arts and culture app. The free app offers access to more than 250 cultural organizations through a single download, with new guides being added every week. To explore the National Portrait Gallery guide, and many more, download the app today from the App Store or Google Play. Help support the work that goes into creating Shade Podcast. https://plus.acast.com/s/shadepodcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today my guest is the Director Eddie Hutton-Mills. Eddie co-directed Kanaval: A Peoples History of Haiti in Six Chapters with Leah Gordon. Eddie Hutton-Mills is an award winning documentary filmmaker, who has made films for all the major UK & US broadcasters including the BBC, ITV and Channel 4. He’s also made biographicalfeature films about Naomi Campbell and Diane Abbott. His passion is for making films about subjects that need confronting like Fighting The Power: Britain After George Floyd. He is currently directing a film for the prestigious BBC Storyville strand.Eddie and I discuss Kanaval in this episode. A visually arresting feature documentary, set in the present but which tells the rich story of Haiti’s past, that follows a number of carnival performers in the lead-up to, and during, the annual Jacmel Mardi Gras. The performers relate their own personal histories as well as the stories of their carnival characters, which represent moments and people from the distant, and not so distant, Haitian past. Interwoven with the interviews, testimonies and observational footage is archive material, drawn from a wide variety of sources to enhance our understanding of Haitian history and culture from the time of the indigenous Taino through to the present day. This is not the carnival of sequins and sound systems found elsewhere in the Caribbean, but a celebration of rebellion and resistance resonating through the centuries.The documentary was nominated for Best Debut Director and Best Cinematography in the British Independent Film Awards and Best Documentary at the London film awards, in 2022.Watch Kanaval on BBCiPlayerThank you for listening and for supporting Shade - the award winning independent art show highlighting the work of Black art practitioners via Patreon or Ko-fiSee you next time!Shade Podcast is hosted and produced by Lou MensahMusic generously composed for Shade by Brian JacksonShade InstagramShade website Help support the work that goes into creating Shade Podcast. https://plus.acast.com/s/shadepodcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Interludes: Black Balloons is a new sound installation by Shade Podcast and Axel Kacoutié now showing at Tate Gallery. Responding to Liz Johnson Artur’s display Time don’t run here, the piece references Artur’s Black Lives Matter protest images and works from her ongoing Black Balloon Archive documenting people in Africa, and of the African and Caribbean diasporas. Experience Liz Johnson Artur’s work with the ear and body. How does sound change how you see the works? What pulses through you when you see the images, braille and thread? The soundscape features the voices of Liz Johnson Artur, artists Imogen Faires and Jamel Alatise from Theatre Peckham, and Research and Interpretation Artist Resident, Marie Smith. It includes extracts from Poetry as Protest, Protest as Poetry, a poem by Faires and Alatise responding to the display and performed live at Tate Modern in April 2023.Visit the installation at Tate Modern, Natalie Bell Building, Level 2 West Room 4, Artist and Society. Black Balloons will play in the gallery at the following times: 11.00am, 12.00pm, 1.00pm, 3.00pm, 4.00pm, 5.00pm.Interludes is an ongoing sound collaboration between Lou Mensah of Shade Podcast and the audio artist Axel Kacoutié.Produced by Lou MensahCreated by Axel Kacoutié Help support the work that goes into creating Shade Podcast. https://plus.acast.com/s/shadepodcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

An exploration of race and politics via the dancefloor.Today my guest is the photographer and filmmaker Jermaine Francis. Jermaine and I discuss his recent film Lost in Music: A Post Industrial Dreamscape - an exploration of race and politics within a dancefloor context. This work was recently presented alongside a discussion with the writer Nathalie Olah and photographer Edward "Eddie" Otchere at Camden Arts Centre.His practice works within documentary & portraiture, in the format of personal driven photo projects & editorials, exploring the issues that arise from our interaction in the everyday environment. He has published two books, Something That Seems So Familiar and Rhythms from the Metroplex. Jermaine's work can be found in publications such as i-D, 10 Magazine and the Wall Street Journal, and in exhibitions at GaleriePCP in Paris and Saatchi Gallery.I loved talking with Jermaine and I hope that you enjoy his words on his rich creative life as much as I did.Thank you for listening and for supporting Shade - the award winning independent art show highlighting the work of Black art practitioners via Patreon and Ko-fiSee you next time!Shade Podcast is hosted and produced by Lou MensahMusic generously composed for Shade by Brian JacksonShade InstagramShade websiteJermaine Francis instagram Help support the work that goes into creating Shade Podcast. https://plus.acast.com/s/shadepodcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Snapshots: Caribbean Cinema Up Close at The Barbican.Today my guest is Patrice Robinson who talks about Snapshots: Caribbean Cinema Up Close, at The Barbican, her debut curatorial season. With interest in communities, community access to film and the intimacies of the human experience, Patrice is a film programmer and writer working in the intersection of audiences and cinema.We discuss Patrice's late entry into film following a change in career, and how the Independent Cinema Office’s FEDS Scheme led to her permanent position at The Barbican. She also shares how her time at the Trinidad and Tobago Film Festival informed Snapshots, and why she focused on films that shared themes of connection - to the land, oneself and family.Snapshots offers a rare insight into the flourishing Caribbean film culture. Exploring individual and shared cultural identities, Snapshots: Caribbean Cinema Up Close runs from 17-31 May, and kicks off with the UK premiere of the brand new restoration of Kavery Kaul’s One Hand Don’t Clap, her upbeat archive documentary which explores the importance of Calypso music and the community around it. The season continues with Currents, a programme of seven shorts by Caribbean filmmakers which explore universal themes of (familial and self) acceptance, overcoming adversity, justice and pride from a uniquely Caribbean perspective.The season closes with writer/director José María Cabral’s Parsley, based on the real story of the Parsley Massacre, a mass killing of Haitians living inthe Dominican Republic north western frontier October 1937. Parsley tells the story of a heavily pregnant Haitian woman left alone in the wilderness near the Dominican border, trying to escape the attack.Snapshots: Caribbean Cinema Up Close - The BarbicanWed 17 - Wed 31 May 2023Shade Podcast is written, hosted and produced by Lou MensahMusic generously composed for Shade by Brian JacksonThank you for listening and for supporting Shade - an independent art show highlighting the work of Black art practitioners via Patreon and Ko-fiSee you next time!Shade InstagramShade websitePatrice Robinson website Help support the work that goes into creating Shade Podcast. https://plus.acast.com/s/shadepodcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

PerAnkh – The June Givanni PanAfrican Cinema Archive, now showing at Raven Row London.Today my guest is the film curator and archivist, June Givanni.June's new exhibition, PerAnkh: The June Givanni PanAfrican Cinema Archive, is showing at Raven Row in London until 4 June 2023.The June Givanni PanAfrican Cinema Archive (JGPACA) holds a unique collection of artefacts and archival material, which has at its core the interest of PanAfrican cinema and its relationship with Black British cinema and culture. The exhibition reveals histories and ideas in African and African diasporic film. June has been collating and sharing this material since the 1980s. A key figure in the Black British Independent Cinema movement, she was involved in the landmark Third Eye Festival of Third World Cinema with the Greater London Council in 1983, later establishing the African Caribbean FilmUnit at the (BFI) in 1992. June’s archive holds more than 10,000 items connecting African film with the film cultures of diaspora communities in the Americas, the Caribbean and Europe. June and I met this week to discuss her early connection with film as a child and her four decades of work as a curator and archivist.Shade Podcast is written, hosted and produced by Lou MensahMusic generously composed for Shade by Brian JacksonThank you for listening and for supporting Shade - an independent art show highlighting the work of Black art practitioners via Patreon and Ko-fiSee you next time!Shade InstagramShade websitePerAnkh: The June Givanni PanAfrican Cinema Archive, is showing at Raven Row exhibition details and programmingJune Givanni PanAfrican Cinema Archive website Help support the work that goes into creating Shade Podcast. https://plus.acast.com/s/shadepodcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Featuring Lou Mensah & Sunil Shah.Enjoy this bonus episode of my conversation with the curators of Tracing Absence, a Whitechapel Gallery exhibition opening at the Kistefos Museum in Norway on April 29th, 2023. The MA student curators of Tracing Absence re-imagine the show to respond to the local context. Episode 18 of Whitechapel Gallery’s Hear, Now podcast series was published in October 2022. It delves deeper into the themes that underpin the exhibition Tracing Absence. Students graduating from the MA Curating Art and Public Programmes course, run by Whitechapel Gallery and London South Bank University, had the opportunity to curate this exhibition as part of their course, which confronts the different ways in which absence manifests in the world.Tracing Absence features new sound art pieces by Joseph Sergi and Yiskāh (alias Jessica Beechy) and works from the Christen Sveaas Art Foundation. Student Cathy O ‘Sullivan presents and introduces fellow student Ada Egg Koskilouma who talks with Sunil Shah and Lou Mensah, to explore what absence means to them.Sunil Shah is an artist and curator based in Oxford, UK. He is interested in the politics of photographic representation and conceptual post-documentary practices with relation to history, memory and identity.Lou Mensah is a London based writer, photographer and the founder of Shade Podcast, a platform which hosts conversations with creative and radical thinkers on the politics of race and representation within the arts.Please follow this link to view the publication that accompanies the exhibition and listen to the sound art works by Joseph Sergi and Yiskāh: https://linktr.ee/tracingabsenceFor more information: https://www.whitechapelgallery.org/exhibitions/tracing-absence/ Help support the work that goes into creating Shade Podcast. https://plus.acast.com/s/shadepodcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Writer, researcher and independent curator: Body Vessel Clay: Black Women, Ceramics and Contemporary Art.Dr Jareh Das is an independent curator, researcher and writer who lives and works between West Africa and the UK. Das’ academic and curatorial practice is informed by an interest in global modern and contemporary art with a specific focus on performance. In 2022, Das curated Body Vessel Clay: Black Women, Ceramics and Contemporary Art an exhibition that spanned seventy years of ceramics and explored how clay has been disrupted, questioned and reimagined by Black women artists. She has written for publications including Ocula Magazine, Frieze, Hyperallergic, Bomb Magazine, Nka Journal of Contemporary African Art and The Art Newspaper.Shade Podcast is written, hosted and produced by Lou MensahMusic generously composed for Shade by Brian JacksonThank you for listening and for supporting Shade - an independent art show highlighting the work of Black art practitioners via Patreon and Ko-fiSee you next time!Shade InstagramShade websiteJareh Das WebsiteBody, Vessel Clay exhibition information Help support the work that goes into creating Shade Podcast. https://plus.acast.com/s/shadepodcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Curator and art historian specialising in modern and contemporary art and curator of Black Venus at Somerset House.*Please note that the sound quality in this episode is compromised due to an unstable internet connection between London and Lagos, where this conversation was recorded. However, Aindrea's insights are not to be missed!Aindrea Emelife is a Nigerian-British curator and art historian specialising in modern and contemporary art, with a focus on questions around colonial and decolonial histories in Africa, transnationalism and the politics of representation. Aindrea is currently the Curator, Modern and Contemporary at EMOWAA (Edo Museum of West African Art), a new David Adjaye designed museum complex and cultural district in Benin City, Nigeria due to open in stages from 2024. Born in London, United Kingdom, Emelife studied at The Courtauld Institute of Art before embarking on a multifaceted career as a curator and art historian, producing highly acclaimed exhibitions for museum, galleries and private collections internationally. Recent exhibitions include BLACK VENUS; a survey of the legacy of the Black woman in visual culture which opened at Fotografiska NY and will tour to MOAD (San Francisco, USA) and Somerset House (London, UK) in 2023. Emelife’s first book, A Brief History of Protest Art was released by Tate in March 2022, Emelife has contributed to exhibition catalogues and publications, most recently including Revising Modern British Art (Lund Humphries, 2022) In 2021, Emelife was appointed to the Mayor of London’s Commission for Diversity in the Public Realm.Lou and Aindrea consider Theaster Gates idea that “Black autonomy alone is too radical for current America” within the context of developing dialogues in contemporary art. We discuss the themes in her recent show 'Black Venus' and round up considering a key question of the series: 'Has the BLM period impacted art sector strategy?' We also find out how Aindrea navigates social media as a Black curator.Shade Podcast is written, hosted and produced by Lou MensahMusic generously composed for Shade by Brian JacksonThank you for listening and for supporting Shade - an independent art show highlighting the work of Black art practitioners via Patreon and Ko-fiShade InstagramShade websiteEMOWAA websiteAindrea Emelife websiteAindrea Emelife instagramSee you next time! Help support the work that goes into creating Shade Podcast. https://plus.acast.com/s/shadepodcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Bolanle Tajudeen founded Black Blossoms in 2015 to showcase the work of contemporary artists of colour. In 2020, Bolanle launched the Black Blossoms School of Art and Culture, an initiative highlighting the art histories and creative practices of artists from historically marginalised backgrounds. As an alternative art school, Black Blossoms offers short educational courses including Art and Revolutionary China, Black British Art, The Black Image in London Galleries, and Curating Black Art.Lou & Bolanle discuss her shift in focus from studying politics, to art at UAL where, as the Vice President of the Student Union she co-founded UAL So White to address the lack of diversity in teaching staff. At the time there were 1,300 white and 126 BAME staff.Black Blossoms provides public programming for Art on the Underground and partners include The Photographer's Gallery and Tate. We also discuss the media backlash Bolanle received following her Art on the Underground public programme. We round up hearing about Flourish Black Blossoms forthcoming event at Tate inspired by The Unfinished Conversation display curated by Aicha Mehrez.Shade Podcast is written, hosted and produced by Lou MensahMusic Shaded generously composed by Brian JacksonThank you for listening and for supporting Shade - an independent art show highlighting the work of Black art practitioners via Patreon and Ko-fiShade InstagramShade websiteBlack Blossoms Flourish at Tate Black Blossoms websiteBlack Blossoms InstagramSee you next time! Help support the work that goes into creating Shade Podcast. https://plus.acast.com/s/shadepodcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Associate Director Gagosian Gallery.Péjú Oshin is the Associate Director of Gagosian Gallery and curator of Rites of Passage the exhibition featuring work by nineteen contemporary artists who share a history of migration.Rites of Passage explores the idea of “liminal space,” a coinage of anthropologist Arnold van Gennep (1873–1957). It is structured in correspondence with liminality’s three stages: separation, transition, and return. Each of these phases addresses the act of movement, not only through individual experience, but also in the broader context of community. The exhibition examines the status of postcolonial Black identity, specifically the “triple consciousness” experienced by members of the African diaspora when encountering counterparts who identify with local majority populations. Péjú shares the personal and professional journey behind curating this exhibition, plus the impact and legacy of BLM 2020 on her previous role as Curator of Young People's Programmes at Tate and beyond. We round up exploring the visible public positioning of a curator and how the contemporary media landscape informs working practices.Shade Podcast is written, hosted and produced by Lou MensahMusic Shaded is composed by Brian JacksonThank you for listening and for supporting Shade, a Black independent art show via Patreon and Ko-fiShade InstagramShade websiteRites of Passage at Gagosian Péjú Oshin InstagramSee you next time! Help support the work that goes into creating Shade Podcast. https://plus.acast.com/s/shadepodcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Portals features the voice of Cassi Namoda who shares her reflections based on her practice and work titled 'Worship at Bar Mundo' (2022).View 'Worship at Bar Mundo' here whilst listening to Axel's sonic response throughout this episode. Cassi Namoda is a painter whose work interweaves the personal with the historical. Born in Maputo and having lived in several different countries throughout her life, Namoda’s nomadic lifestyle and multicultural identity has long informed her work. The duality between past and present, colonialism and post-colonialism, Africa and Europe, spiritual traditions and a globalised world is a latent force in her most recent paintings.Discover more of Cassi's work at Xavier Hufkens Gallery, Goodman Gallery, François Ghebaly Gallery and on Cassi's instagram here.Interludes is a collaboration between Shade Podcast and Axel Kacoutié featuring six contemporary artists: Amy Sherald, Ming Smith, Phoebe Boswell, Rahima Gambo, Nnena Kalu and Cassi Namoda.Framed by the question "What does healing sound like?", these podcasts offer a visceral connection with the artists' work. In each episode we weave the artists' reflections through Axel's original soundscapes, as a collaborative exploration of their creative experience.The aim is to soften our tendency to intellectualise artwork, and instead create a sonic texture that is more intimate in its connection with the artist.Concept & Production by Lou Mensah Created by Axel KacoutiéInterludes is supported by Hauser & WirthRead more about this series in Hauser & Wirth Ursula Magazine Additional support by Frieze Membership, the community that champions art. Frieze members enjoy articles from the leading voices shaping today’s art world, priority booking to Frieze fairs and unique perks along the way. Find out more on frieze.com/membership Help support the work that goes into creating Shade Podcast. https://plus.acast.com/s/shadepodcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Mandala features the sounds of the artist Nnena Kalu creating an untitled work and the voice of ActionSpace Associate Artist, Charlotte Hollinshead.Nnena Kalu has created a vast body of sculptural and 2D artworks and developed a live, performative element to her practice. She is driven by an instinctive urge to build repeated marks and forms, creating intensely layered, visually impactful artworks with dense colours and compacted, flowing lines. Nnena has developed her artistic practice at the ActionSpace studio in Studio Voltaire since 1999.ActionSpace is London’s leading development agency for learning disabled artists. All of their work is focused towards enabling learning disabled artists to have a professional career in the arts. View Nnena's work here whilst listening to Axel's sonic response throughout this episode.Interludes is a collaboration between Shade Podcast and Axel Kacoutié featuring six contemporary artists: Amy Sherald, Ming Smith, Phoebe Boswell, Rahima Gambo, Nnena Kalu and Cassi Namoda.Framed by the question "What does healing sound like?", these podcasts offer a visceral connection with the artists' work. In each episode we weave the artists' reflections through Axel's original soundscapes, as a collaborative exploration of their creative experience.The aim is to soften our tendency to intellectualise artwork, and instead create a sonic texture that is more intimate in its connection with the artist.Concept & Production by Lou Mensah Created by Axel KacoutiéInterludes is supported by Hauser & WirthRead more about this series in Hauser & Wirth Ursula Magazine Additional support by Frieze Membership, the community that champions art. Frieze members enjoy articles from the leading voices shaping today’s art world, priority booking to Frieze fairs and unique perks along the way. Find out more on frieze.com/membership Help support the work that goes into creating Shade Podcast. https://plus.acast.com/s/shadepodcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Where the sun sleeps features the voice of photographer Ming Smith who shares her reflections based on her practice and work Circle of Life (Hakone, Japan 1985). Ming Smith was the first female member to join Kamoinge, a collective of black photographers in New York in the 1960s, working to document black life. Smith would go on to be the first black woman photographer to be included in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art. Smith has often described her work as ‘celebrating the struggle, the survival and to find grace in it.’ Many of Smith’s subjects were well-known black cultural figures from Nina Simone, Grace Jones and Alice Coltrane: all from her neighbourhood. Smith has cited music as being a big influence in her work, saying 'these pieces are like the blues.’ View 'Circle of life' here whilst listening to Axel's sonic response throughout this episode.Interludes is a collaboration between Shade Podcast and Axel Kacoutié featuring six contemporary artists: Amy Sherald, Ming Smith, Phoebe Boswell, Rahima Gambo, Nnena Kalu and Cassi Namoda.Framed by the question "What does healing sound like?", these podcasts offer a visceral connection with the artists' work. In each episode we weave the artists' reflections through Axel's original soundscapes, as a collaborative exploration of their creative experience.The aim is to soften our tendency to intellectualise artwork, and instead create a sonic texture that is more intimate in its connection with the artist.Concept & Production by Lou Mensah Created by Axel KacoutiéInterludes is supported by Hauser & WirthRead more about this series in Hauser & Wirth Ursula Magazine Additional support by Frieze Membership, the community that champions art. Frieze members enjoy articles from the leading voices shaping today’s art world, priority booking to Frieze fairs and unique perks along the way. Find out more on frieze.com/membership Help support the work that goes into creating Shade Podcast. https://plus.acast.com/s/shadepodcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Dream Recurred features the voice of Amy Sherald who shares her reflections based on her practice and new work For love, and for country (2022). 'For love, and for country' features in 'The World We Make', Sherald's first solo show in Europe. In this new body of work, Sherald humanises the Black experience by depicting her subjects in both historically recognisable and everyday settings, at once immortalising them and reinserting them into the art historical canon.View 'For love, and for country' here whilst listening to Axel's sonic response throughout this episode.Interludes is a collaboration between Shade Podcast and Axel Kacoutié featuring six contemporary artists: Amy Sherald, Ming Smith, Phoebe Boswell, Rahima Gambo, Nnena Kalu and Cassi Namoda.Framed by the question "What does healing sound like?", these podcasts offer a visceral connection with the artists' work. In each episode we weave the artists' reflections through Axel's original soundscapes, as a collaborative exploration of their creative experience.The aim is to soften our tendency to intellectualise artwork, and instead create a sonic texture that is more intimate in its connection with the artist.Concept & Production by Lou Mensah Created by Axel KacoutiéInterludes is supported by Hauser & WirthRead more about this series in Hauser & Wirth Ursula Magazine Additional support by Frieze Membership, the community that champions art. Frieze members enjoy articles from the leading voices shaping today’s art world, priority booking to Frieze fairs and unique perks along the way. Find out more on frieze.com/membership Help support the work that goes into creating Shade Podcast. https://plus.acast.com/s/shadepodcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Forgetting Eden features the voice of Rahima Gambo who shares her reflections based on her practice and project Education is Forbidden and Tatsuniya.Rahima’s deeply layered mixed media engagement is about the aftermath of conflict, the nature of memory and the echoes and consequences of colonial education in north eastern Nigeria.Discover more of Rahima's work on her Instagram and her website. Interludes is a collaboration between Shade Podcast and Axel Kacoutié featuring six contemporary artists: Amy Sherald, Ming Smith, Phoebe Boswell, Rahima Gambo, Nnena Kalu and Cassi Namoda.Framed by the question "What does healing sound like?", these podcasts offer a visceral connection with the artists' work. In each episode we weave the artists' reflections through Axel's original soundscapes, as a collaborative exploration of their creative experience.The aim is to soften our tendency to intellectualise artwork, and instead create a sonic texture that is more intimate in its connection with the artist.Concept & Production by Lou Mensah Created by Axel KacoutiéInterludes is supported by Hauser & WirthRead more about this series in Hauser & Wirth Ursula Magazine Additional support by Frieze Membership, the community that champions art. Frieze members enjoy articles from the leading voices shaping today’s art world, priority booking to Frieze fairs and unique perks along the way. Find out more on frieze.com/membership Help support the work that goes into creating Shade Podcast. https://plus.acast.com/s/shadepodcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Larry Achiampong is a British Ghanian, Jarman Award nominated artist. In 2020 he was awarded the Stanley Picker fellowship and in 2019 he received the Paul Hamlyn Artist award in recognition for his practice. Larry’s most recent solo exhibition Wayfinder showed this summer at the Turner Contemporary Gallery. He serves on the Board of Trustees at Iniva (Institute of International Visual Arts) and The Elephant Trust. Join Larry & I in exploring the impact of race on arts education and access to the arts sector. We highlight the urgent need for change as set out in The Runnymede Trust and Freelands Foundation research into access into the visual arts for Black, Asian and ethnically diverse students in the UK. It’s the first research project of this scale in the UK. The project was launched in July 2022 with a ‘Call for Evidence inviting contributions from students, teachers, art educators, artists and the wider sector. Read about how the evidence will be implemented and contribute by submitting your evidence here.The final report will be published in early 2023.Guest Larry Achiampong This podcast was produced and hosted by Lou MensahEditing Mae Li Evans Music composed for Shade Podcast by Brian JacksonThe Runnymede Trust website This episode was supported by Freelands Foundation Help support the work that goes into creating Shade Podcast. https://plus.acast.com/s/shadepodcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Drexciya features the voice of Phoebe Boswell who shares her reflections based on her practice and project The Black Horizon Do We Muse on the Sky or Remember the Sea?Discover more of Phoebe’s work on her Instagram and her websiteThis episode also features a performance by Jazz Tenor Saxophonist JD Allen who collaborated with Phoebe Boswell on The Black Horizon project. His work is also available on all music platforms.Interludes is a collaboration between Shade Podcast and Axel Kacoutié featuring six contemporary artists: Amy Sherald, Ming Smith, Phoebe Boswell, Rahima Gambo, Nnena Kalu and Cassi Namoda.Framed by the question "What does healing sound like?", these podcasts offer a visceral connection with the artists' work. In each episode we weave the artists' reflections through Axel's original soundscapes, as a collaborative exploration of their creative experience.The aim is to soften our tendency to intellectualise artwork, and instead create a sonic texture that is more intimate in its connection with the artist.Concept & Production by Lou Mensah Created by Axel KacoutiéInterludes is supported by Hauser & WirthRead more about this series in Hauser & Wirth Ursula Magazine Additional support by Frieze Membership, the community that champions art. Frieze members enjoy articles from the leading voices shaping today’s art world, priority booking to Frieze fairs and unique perks along the way. Find out more on frieze.com/membership Help support the work that goes into creating Shade Podcast. https://plus.acast.com/s/shadepodcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode I am in conversation with Ekow Eshun. Ekow is a writer and the curator of In the Black Fantastic, currently on show at the Hayward Gallery, London.In the Black Fantastic is a new exhibition of 11 contemporary artists from the African diaspora, who draw on science fiction and myth to question our knowledge of the world. Although the exhibition encompasses themes within Afrofuturism, Ekow and I discuss why and how he is drawing from ideas distinct from this movement.We explore the works on display including the epic themes of exploration and renewal present throughout the show. Ekow also shares his process of personal development throughout the three year curation process, which started prior to the BLM uprisings of 2020.In the Black Fantastic is showing until September 18 2022 at Hayward Gallery, London.If you'd like to support this independent, award winning podcast through Patreon or shout me a coffee via Ko-fi I would be delighted! Thank you!Producer & Host Lou MensahMusic by Brian Jackson from the legendary duo Gil Scott Heron & Brian Jackson. Check out his new album 'This is Brian Jackson' here Additional sound and mixing by CA Davis. Check out his new film 'Inhuman Figures' at the Smithsonian here Help support the work that goes into creating Shade Podcast. https://plus.acast.com/s/shadepodcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

AWARD WINNER 'BEST ARTS & CULTURE' PODCAST - BRITISH PODCAST AWARDS 2021In this episode I’m in conversation with Co-Editors in chief of Citizen, Henrietta Gallina & Danielle Powell-Cobb.In 2017, the idea for Citizen magazine was born out of the desire to see something that did not quite exist, an independent magazine documenting Black life and culture through the words of Black thinkers and the lenses of Black creatives, a beautifully designed record of Black life. Henrietta & Danielle tell Lou about the journey of Citizen from conception through totheir plans for the magazines future and why they chose Nikole Hannah-Jones to feature on their first cover. ‘Shade Shorts’ is a new short series of conversations with the founders of some our most radical, Black led art & culture journals.These conversations will keep us connected and inspired between the main seasons of the podcast. We will explore the power that we all have when we focus on considered communication and building community.If you'd like to support this independent, award winning podcast through Patreon or Ko-fi I would be delighted! Thank you!Shade Podcast is produced and hosted by Lou MensahMusic by Brian Jackson - an American keyboardist, flautist, singer, composer, and producer known for his collaborations with Gil Scott-Heron in the 1970sMixing CA Davis - film & podcast creator/editorCitizen Instagram Help support the work that goes into creating Shade Podcast. https://plus.acast.com/s/shadepodcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

AWARD WINNER 'BEST ARTS & CULTURE' PODCAST - BRITISH PODCAST AWARDS 2021Shade Podcast is back with ‘Shade Shorts’ the new series of conversations with the founders of some our most radical, Black led art & culture journals. These episodes will keep us connected and inspired between the main seasons of the podcast. We will explore the power that we all have when we focus on considered communication and building community. In this episode I’m in conversation with author of Afropean and Guest Editor of The Eyes Journal, Johny Pitts.️The Eyes is an independent and bilingual journal (published in French and English) that explores cultural and societal issues through the prism of photographic creativity.For each issue The Eyes gives an artist "carte blanche" to curate a subjective and personal panorama on the special focus.Johny & I discuss his guest curation for Issue 12 titled B-side, a visual exploration of what it means to be Afropean.If you'd like to support this independent, award winning podcast through Patreon or Ko-fi I would be delighted! Thank you!Johny Pitts InstagramAfropean InstagramThe Eyes InstagramShade Podcast is produced and hosted by Lou MensahMixing CA DavisMusic by Brian Jackson Help support the work that goes into creating Shade Podcast. https://plus.acast.com/s/shadepodcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

AWARD WINNER 'BEST ARTS & CULTURE' PODCAST - BRITISH PODCAST AWARDS 2021Shade Podcast is back with ‘Shade Shorts’ the new series of conversations with the founders of some our most radical, Black led art & culture journals. These episodes will keep us connected and inspired between the main seasons of the podcast. We will explore the power that we all have when we focus on considered communication and building community. In this episode I’m in conversation with Jay Simple, founder of The Photographers Green Book.️The Photographers Green Book is a resource hub for Inclusion, Diversity, Equity & Advocacy within the lens based community. It’s truly an amazing print & online journal which offers both practical and inspirational resources. Inspired by The Negro Motorist Green Book, a list of safe places for Black people during their travels in segregated America, the PGB helps navigate the photographic community which has historically denied the voices of those other than predominantly white, cis, male artists. If you'd like to support this independent, award winning podcast through Patreon or Ko-fi I would be delighted! Thank you!PGB WebsitePGB InstagramJay's recommendationshttps://shashamovies.com/https://www.ablackcreativesguide.com/Jay Simple WebsiteJay Simple InstagramShade Podcast is produced and hosted by Lou MensahMixing CA DavisMusic by Brian Jackson Help support the work that goes into creating Shade Podcast. https://plus.acast.com/s/shadepodcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

SHADE 'BEST ARTS & CULTURE' PODCAST - BRITISH PODCAST AWARDS 2021Special edition from Shade at South London Gallery ‘Making Sense’ - a new digital resource that assembles people around ideas for structural change through creative practice.In this episode Lou Mensah speaks to Dr. Aminul Hoque about inclusive education and how our local community can support educators in achieving it.Dr. Aminul Hoque is a lecturer in the Educational Studies Department at Goldsmiths College London.Aminul's work focuses on issues of multicultural Britain, identity, social justice, youth policy, religion, race relations and Islamic feminism. With over 24 years of experience in the youth, community and voluntary sector, Aminul is a recognised expert in young people and cultural identity.Shade Podcast is produced and hosted by Lou MensahEditing and sound design by CA DavisMusic by Brian JacksonEpisode supported by South London GalleryDr. Aminul Hoque TwitterAuthor of British-Islamic Identity: Third generation Bangladeshis from East LondonPresenter: A Very British History: British Bangladeshis, BBC4, Feb 2020 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RosoCezTQ_oPresenter: Searching for Secrets: London, Smithsonian Channel, June 2021 Help support the work that goes into creating Shade Podcast. https://plus.acast.com/s/shadepodcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

SILVER AWARD WINNER 'BEST ARTS & CULTURE' PODCAST - BRITISH PODCAST AWARDS 2021Welcome to our third and final episode in this special series of conversations from Shade, supported by Hauser & Wirth, where we will be exploring ‘Unencumbered Voices in Curated Spaces: Inspired by the life & work of Sir Frank Bowling’. Released throughout this summer, the series provides a collaborative platform for diverse perspectives investigating freedom of expression today and throughout art history. Today my guest is Thomas J Price.Born in London in 1981, Thomas studied at Chelsea College of Art and the Royal College of Art in London. He works across disciplines, predominantly in sculpture, but also in film and photography. His large-scale sculptures depict imagined subjects, whose features are an amalgamation of sources, observed individuals and stereotypes represented in the media are mixed with references to ancient, classical and neoclassical sculptures. These works serve as psychological portraits of the viewer by revealing socially learned attitudes and understandings as they project identities on to the depicted characters.Shade Podcast is produced and hosted by Lou MensahEditing and sound design by CA DavisMusic by Brian JacksonSeries supported by Hauser & Wirth Help support the work that goes into creating Shade Podcast. https://plus.acast.com/s/shadepodcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.