Hospital Rooms has been bringing world-class contemporary art into NHS mental healthcare units since 2016. Today, we focus on their most ambitious work to date at Hellesdon Hospital, part of the Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust. This project embodies both successes and challenges – from the triumph of commissioning fifteen incredible artists to create site-specific works, to the complex realities of working within a healthcare setting that has faced its own struggles in recent years. Joi...
Mar 18, 2025•30 min
This series of conversations with art educators expand on the ideas presented by Vi sualise: The Runnymede Trust and Freelands Foundation 2024 report on Race & Inclusion in Secondary School Art Education. In this episode 'Visualise the Future' we are joined by Carey Robinson, Deputy Director, Learning and Public Programmes at The Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge. She has formerly held strategic, curatorial, and creative producer roles at leading cultural institutions including Tate, the Insti...
Nov 19, 2024•25 min•Season 12Ep. 5
This series of conversations with art educators, practitioners and makers expands on the ideas presented by Vi sualise: The Runnymede Trust and Freelands Foundation 2024 report on Race & Inclusion in Secondary School Art Education. In this episode 'The Art of Teaching' we are joined by Shepherd Manyika, an artist and educator based in London. Shepherd graduated from Central Saint Martins with a BA in Fine Art and an MA in Academic Practice in Art, Design and Communications and has since gone...
Nov 12, 2024•25 min•Ep. 4
This series of conversations with art educators, practitioners and makers expands on the ideas presented by Vi sualise: 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 vo...
Nov 05, 2024•31 min•Ep. 3
This series of conversations with art educators, practitioners and makers expands on the ideas presented by Vi sualise: 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 spiritu...
Oct 29, 2024•29 min•Ep. 2
This new weekly, five part series of conversations with art educators, practitioners and makers expands on the ideas presented by Vi sualise: 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 Runny...
Oct 22, 2024•29 min•Ep. 1
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 Direct...
Oct 08, 2024•1 hr 14 min
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 artis...
Jul 12, 2024•26 min•Season 11Ep. 3
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 Kun...
Jul 05, 2024•17 min•Season 11Ep. 2
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...
Jun 21, 2024•23 min•Season 11Ep. 1
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 f...
Apr 23, 2024•13 min
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 ...
Apr 21, 2024•31 min
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 centu...
Apr 18, 2024•37 min•Season 10Ep. 5
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 i...
Apr 11, 2024•17 min•Season 10Ep. 4
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 P...
Apr 04, 2024•19 min•Season 10Ep. 3
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 und...
Mar 28, 2024•22 min•Season 10Ep. 2
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 run...
Mar 21, 2024•31 min•Season 10Ep. 1
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 wor...
Dec 21, 2023•13 min•Season 9Ep. 7
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 o...
Dec 20, 2023•21 min•Season 9Ep. 6
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 perform...
Dec 19, 2023•27 min•Season 9Ep. 5
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 b...
Dec 18, 2023•24 min•Season 9Ep. 4
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 i...
Dec 15, 2023•33 min•Season 9Ep. 3
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-winni...
Dec 14, 2023•21 min•Season 9Ep. 2
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, wit...
Dec 13, 2023•24 min•Season 9Ep. 1
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 Har...
Nov 30, 2023•21 min•Season 8Ep. 4
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: T he Hermit, (1966) - Patrick Caulfield Fountains Fell, Yorkshire Dales, 3 August 2008, (2016) - Simon Roberts Discover more episodes in this s...
Sep 27, 2023•19 min•Season 8Ep. 3
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 Po...
Sep 20, 2023•12 min•Season 8Ep. 2
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...
Sep 13, 2023•15 min•Season 8Ep. 1
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 biographical feature 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 Flo...
Jun 01, 2023•29 min•Season 7Ep. 4
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 whe...
May 26, 2023•16 min
