"If I didn't laugh, I'd cry."

Comic Release is a three-part podcast series hosted by artist Joe Jowitt which explores the use of humour in artists' moving image.

In this conversation, Joe meets Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland-born, Los Angeles-based artist and filmmaker Sean Grattan, whose debut feature film, Policy Wonks, explores the clash of liberal ideologies through an absurd intersection of "money, guns and yoga." Joe and Sean discuss using slogans as dialogue, working with clichés, and deprogramming problematic humour from one's own cultural upbringing.

Episode 122: Comic Release with Sean Grattan

20250411 VicArts Museums

A chat with legendary urban portrait photographer Jamel Shabazz about his long career documenting daily life and thriving communities on the streets of NYC

The Alchemy of Urban Street Portraits, with Jamel Shabazz

Since 1989, the North Carolina Heritage Awards have honored artists statewide for their contributions to the cultural lives of their communities. The Folklife program of the North Carolina Arts Council is pleased to spotlight the five artists/groups who will be presented with the 2025 awards on June 7, at a public ceremony in Raleigh.

In this episode, we head to the far western end of North Carolina to the community of Brasstown, to chat with Helen Gibson, who grew up among the storied Brasstown Carvers at the John C. Campbell Folk School. Helen began carving at age 11 under the teaching of her mother, Dot McClure, and Murrial “Murray” Martin, the Folk School’s craft teacher, to whom the early growth of the Brasstown Carvers one hundred years ago can be credited. Best known for her detailed nativity scene carvings, she has been the Folk School’s resident carver since 1990, a mentor to apprentice carvers, and a teacher at home and through the Tri-County Community College.

The honorees for 2025 are: Round Peak Guitarist, Chester McMillian; Lumbee traditional artisans, Herman and Loretta Oxendine; North Indian classical musician, Gaurang Doshi; Brasstown Woodcarver, Helen Gibson; and Gospel Quartet, The Glorifying Vines Sisters. For tickets and more information, visit pinecone.org.
Introduction music performed by Etta Baker.

Arts Across NC is a podcast by and about the North Carolina Arts Council, a division of the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources, a state agency.



Meet 2025 Heritage Award honoree Helen Gibson

A chat with Acacia Johnson & Jonas Paurell, two photographers specialized in Arctic and Antarctic regions, about interpreting these realms of shifting ice, ethereal light, and profound environmental change through the lens of fine art and conservation photography. Our discussion explores how photography serves as both a creative pursuit and a call to action, capturing the transcendent beauty of polar regions while bearing witness to its fragility.

The Beauty & Impact of Polar Photography, with Acacia Johnson & Jonas Paurell

A chat with world renowned industrial landscape photographer Edward Burtynsky about his legendary industrial landscape imagery, as well as his business Toronto Image Works, which he started in 1985 to make fine art prints for other photographers

The Great Acceleration: Human-Altered Industrial Landscapes, with Edward Burtynsky

Brett Graham's exhibition Wastelands opened at Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki in June 2025. Featuring a monumental sculpture of the same name that was commissioned for the 60th Venice Biennale in 2024, the haunting installation is expanded to include a new multi-channel video work, titled Whangamārino (2025). Re-working footage shot by news company Aukaha of a 2024 fire in the Whangamārino wetlands, Graham's new work adds layers of animation, personal history, and an ominous soundtrack.

The resulting installation addresses both the history of colonial exploitation and our contemporary ecological crisis. Over 1.2 million acres of Waikato-Tainui land were confiscated by the colonial government following the Waste Lands Act (1858), the Waikato War (1863–64), and the New Zealand Settlements Act (1863), with devastating consequences for tangata whenua and te taio. In this exhibition, Graham powerfully addresses the resulting degradation of the Waikato River and its surrounding wetlands, a precious resource and taonga for his iwi.

In this kōrero with Kathryn Graham, Brett discusses Wastelands, his earlier work Tai Moana Tai Tangata (2020), and presenting Wastelands at the Venice Biennale in 2024.

Episode 123: on Wastelands with Brett Graham

A chat with Mary Ellen Matthews, the official photographer for Saturday Night Live’s bumper portraits, about her new coffee table book featuring the portraits she’s made during her long run as the show’s photographer from 1999 to today.

The Art of the SNL Portrait, with Mary Ellen Matthews

@itxmi @1akura / @foryourheart @kyoakyo @hartfxlt @rewind214 @lifegiverr @nazzz333 @decago

0:00 - :55 @kyoakyo & @1akura
:55 - 1:38 @kyoakyo
1:38 - 2:23 @1akura & @kyoakyo 
2:23 - 3:17 @hartfxlt
3:17 - 4:06 @itxmi
4:06 - 4:50 @rewind214
4:50 - 5:44 @hartfxlt
5:44 - 6:25 @1akura
6:25 - 7:20 @1akura
7:20 - 8:15 @kyoakyo
8:15 - 9:10 @rewind214 & @1akura
9:10 - 10:24 @kyoakyo & @1akura & @nazzz333
10:24 - 11:17 @decago & @1akura
11:17 - end outro by @itxmi & @1akura

thank you for listening <3

'25 afterstory ❤︎ samples 1

A chat with Daniella Vale, creator / director of the massive film/photo installation, Path of Liberty: That Which Unites US now on view at NYC's Midtown East Outdoor Project Space, along with her cinematographer Scott Beardslee. This project is an immersive documentary spanning 6 acres and featuring 41 billboard sized screens, with 3 or 4 showing videos with multiple interviews interwoven and the others featuring a single environmental portrait with a short audio from the person’s interview timed in a loop.
Our conversation spans the full range of the project from how the portrait subjects were identified and selected to the gear used to capture and assemble the footage to what it takes to mount a project at this scale.


Path of Liberty: That Which Unites US, with Daniella Vale & Scott Beardslee

How do moving image artists work with visual effects? In this follow up podcast to CIRCUIT Cast 123: Brett Graham, interviewer Kathryn Graham speaks to Sam Tozer from LOT23. They discuss Sam's work on Whangamārino, a six channel video by Brett  included as part of his installation The Wastelands at Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki. Sam discusses the process of working with Brett, the digital challenges of adding visual effects to documentary footage and working through ‘impossible lenses’. 

List of topics:

0:20 How did you first get to know Brett? Sam discusses making one of Nat Tozer’s works (Erotic Geologies (2024)) and forging a mutual connection with Brett via Gow Langsford gallery, and the inclusion of a Fred Graham sculpture in the video. 

2.30: Sam describes the original documentary footage which Whangamārino is based on.  

3.25: The unusual size of the six screen video installation -  “11 times wider than it is high…immediately really exciting”.

4.00: What was the process of choosing not to use the original footage? 

4:30: Sam discusses ‘impossible lenses’, and the difference between showing The Wastelands in Venice in 2024 versus the 2025 Auckland Art Gallery installation which features the video work Whangamārino.

6:00: How LOT23 work with artists - technologically and learning about the artists' kaupapa, looking at previous works, examining narrative and aesthetic threads in existing works - “so we’re part of a continuum”

7 :00: The technical challenges of making a work “12 times wider than it’s high” at a resolution of 11,500 pixels wide

8:25: Brief discussion of unusual screen sizes in projects with Lisa Reihana and Nat Tozer 

10:00: More discussion of working at large scale, Kathryn makes anology of working on a mural and the impact of scale on the viewer

12:30 Sam discusses beginning with grass, rock and trees as "touchpoints for a scale reference” Different lens sizes with a virtual camera. The process of creating natural environments. Using NASA Lidar data, using images of the actual sites in Brett’s video.

15:00 Working with Brett - suggesting inclusion of other details, thinking about depth of field “you get to play God with it…to create something larger than life…that is hyper real”. 

18:00 “There’s all sorts of Easter eggs of meaning…” Discussion of Brett’s personal references to whenua in the work.

19:30 Ends

Episode 124: Sam Tozer on Impossible Lenses

Summertime is the season for travel. With that theme in mind, in today’s show, we’re taking you on a short trip around the block to revisit a few of our favorite encounters from B&H’s 2025 Bild Expo. 

During two days in June, we engaged with the many thousands of Expo attendees who converged at New York’s Jacob Javits Center for the show. From our sleek podcast console/recording station adjacent to the Bild stages, we shared our favorite listens and offered advice to the many inquisitive creatives wanting to start up a podcast of their own. Amid all the noise and excitement, we also found the chance to record short interviews with a few of our visitors who had inspiring stories to tell, three of which we’re presenting today. 
So, sit back and enjoy these conversations with Philadelphia-based photographer, entrepreneur, and community organizer CJ Wolfe; New York-based filmmaker, producer, and podcaster Maria Clinton; and Canadian-born, globetrotting visual engineer and environmental activist Benjamin Von Wong.

Guests: CJ Wolfe, Maria Clinton, & Benjamin Von Wong


Host: Derek Fahsbender
Senior Creative Producer: Jill Waterman
Senior Technical Producer: Mike Weinstein
Executive Producer: Richard Stevens



Bild 2025 Recap, with CJ Wolfe, Maria Clinton & Benjamin Von Wong

The photo world is filled with remarkable young and up-and-coming talents. They often don’t get the visibility they deserve, so we created Next Frame—a new monthly series aiming to shine a light their way. These bite-sized episodes are equally inspired by the guests we speak with and the invaluable contributions of local creative arts programs that have played a key role in their development. 

We’re launching this series with photographer, filmmaker, and boxing & music aficionado Josh Nass, an alumnus of Baltimore’s Wide Angle Youth Media programs. From nailing his Photoshop skills while still in middle school to trading in his boxing gloves for a camera during college and beyond, Josh regales us with practical tips about both the successes and challenges all young creatives must face as they transition from trading pictures for access to molding media skills into a profitable career.

Looking back on his early days chasing both music and fashion scenes, Josh notes, “Your main role as a photographer—especially with talent and famous people—you know, I thought I was just making them look cool, but I'm making them money. I'm marketing them for their next tour, for their current tour. Looking back, I've learned a thing or two about how to get users’ attention online.”

Next Frame: From Boxing Rings to Media Stages with Josh Nass

This soundtrack was created for a dance performance called Spindotcom. Version 2025, created by the Mooier Foundation (Zwolle, Netherlands). Dancer Maartje Sijperda. Artwork by Mooier Foundation. 

the WEbcreator

A chat with photographers Joel Simpson and John Paul Caponigro, discussing the philosophies behind their respective surreal / psychological geological photographs, plus the creative processes they use for image making.

Finding Faces in the Rocks, with John Paul Caponigro and Joel Simpson

This episode we’re talking to the multitalented Bea Chu. Bea dives into how her content creator journey began and how she balances education and creativity. We talk about creator communities and tips for improving your audio game.

Diving Into Audio Tips and Finding Motivation with Bea

“The smile goes away the longer they experience the work” - John Vea

Comic Release is a three-part podcast series hosted by artist Joe Jowitt which explores the use of humour in artists' moving image.

In this conversation, Joe meets Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland-born, Ōtautahi-based artist John Vea, whose work uses humour as a device to draw viewers into deeper dialogues around Pasifika identity.

Image: John Vea, Is your name Siliga? No? Oh, you’re Pati? (2025) (detail)

List of Topics:

00:00: Introduction

01:34: What is Talanoa? John - “a holistic way of experiencing information... a learning mechansim”.

03.20: On the video work Is your name Siliga? No? Oh, you’re Pati? (2025)' included in the exhibition Ini Mini Mani Mou (2025) at the Christchurch Art Gallery. John describes the genesis of the work; coming from the real life experience of being mistaken for someone else. In the video, friends “narrate their experiences of these stereotypical events. “It’s funny… it’s not sort of funny”.

05.50: Was the humour in the video intentional? John - “We’re used to laughing at our trauma, which is sad cos we glaze over it... especially when we're kids”.

07:30: John on the nature of Pacific humour generally; and then on integrating it into his work. He discusses the 2019 installation If I pick your fruit, will you put mine back? shown in Sydney. Humour as a 'Trojan horse'.

10:00: On adjusting a work for different social and class contexts "If it has to be subtle... because of the community, then I'll change it up". The difficulty of reinstalling works in a new space, a new context.

12:30: The line between poetic and humorous. How does John "walk that line?" John - “It starts off quite heavy”.

14:30: Joe on the effect on him as an audience member of watching Is your name Siliga? No? Oh, you’re Pati? (2025). John discusses the common Pasifika experience of changing one's name to “fit in”.

16:30: On site specificity; and showing the video Is your name Siliga? No? Oh, you’re Pati? to Christchurch audiences.

17:00: Is the current political climate influencing new work? John - “It's sad that my practice is almost relying on trauma“.

18:00: On John's recent move to Otautahi from Tāmaki Makaurau, being Pasifika in Otautahi.

20:30: John on making Tribute to American Samoa and Tonga (2009); combining sculpture and video, objects as projection surface. The story of the making of the work, and the first installation releasing salt water from the sea into the gallery.

24:00: On conceptualising the work and discarding various sculptural options during this process.

25:30: “Is it a problem if someone comes out of a work and just goes, oh, that was so funny, and then that's it?" John discusses how viewers absorb the work the more time they spend with it.

26:30: Using the body in John’s videos. On the work Finish this week off and that’s it! (2009). John - "I wanted (the audience) to just experience working for two hours... not working in terms of the physical, but... to make them sit there and engage with the work for that amount of time".

28:00: John discusses how the audiences limited attention span for the two hour work is analogous to the lack of interest in acknowledging the cost of labour on Pasifika bodies, and the poor wages for this work.

29:00 On eating below the poverty line for six weeks whilst making Finish this week off and that’s it!

30:00 Comedy as a vehicle for hard conversations. Joe - “...what's interesting is the uncomfortable laughter... is that something you purposefully go for?"

31:00 Joe - "Is it okay for people to laugh at your work?" John - "Humour is welcomed in my practice. But expect the humour to be wiped off your face once you experience the works longer."

Episode 123: Comic Release with John Vea

Above Photograph © Patience Ojionuka

How do you transition from being simply “a friend with a camera” to landing paid gigs with top fashion brands? All while juggling a budding photo career and the rigors of post graduate study, along with sharing insider tips to inspire your community on the side. 

We answer these questions and more in this, our second episode of Next Frame, a monthly podcast series shining a light on rising creative talents. 

Today's guest is Patience Ojionuka, a trendsetting creative known for multitasking between enviable photo assignments and working towards a PhD in psychology. We get the low down on her experiences in the power of pitching and the magic of sharing on social media.

“There's always projects happening, and I think that is the biggest thing I learned,” she explains. “There's nothing more powerful than sharing your work.”

Patience also admits, “I was waiting for the perfect time to start, which reminder to anybody listening, the perfect time to start is right now. I just posted it, and it got a reaction that I just wasn't expecting. And that could happen to you. That could happen to anyone.”
Guest: Patience Ojionuka
Episode Timeline:

2:07: Patience Ojionuka’s start in photography as an undergraduate doing senior portraits and school events.

4:09: Figuring out how to make photography fit into her life, plus getting past the stigma that part time artists don’t have a stake in the industry.

6:20: Connecting with ASMP’s Bridge Mentorship Program, how this changed her life, plus finding time, space, and resources to create at Shotti’s LR2 Studio. 

13:32: A love for lighting and the viral lighting tutorials Patience posts on TikTok.

17:19: How Patience has evolved as a photographer both technically and as a tastemaker.

19:56: A memorable assignment and the value of being kind and personable in a tough industry. 

22:53: Learning the power of pitching and sharing your work on social media.

26:13: Patience’s current social media strategy, plus the Instagram reel that changed her life.

29:16: Drawing inspiration from outside the photography world and merging the different parts of her brain. 

32:58: The most important thing that Patience has learned from mentoring and aims to impart to others.
 
35:21: Where Patience aspires to be as a photographer five years from now, plus news about a recent project for Teen Vogue.

Guest Bio:

Patience Ojionuka is a queer, Houston-raised, NYC-based photographer and psychology PhD student. Specializing in fashion and portraiture, Patience has worked on and assisted in projects for Teen Vogue, Wall Street Journal, Self Magazine, Who What Wear, Allure, and has had clients such as Tinder, Lex App, and National University. Outside the studio, you can find her singing a cappella, editing videos, or probably inappropriately doing doctoral homework at a party.


Stay Connected:

Patience Ojionuka Website: https://patienceojionuka.com
Patience Ojionuka Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/patienceojionuka/
Patience Ojionuka LinkedIn:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/patience-o-051531212
Patience Ojionuka YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@patienceojionuka/
Patience Ojionuka TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@patienceojionuka	
LR2 Studio: https://www.lr2.studio/about
ASMP’s Bridge Mentorship Program: https://www.asmp.org/newyork/the-bridge-program/

Host: Derek Fahsbender

Senior Creative Producer: Jill Waterman

Senior Technical Producer: Mike Weinstein

Executive Producer: Richard Stevens


Next Frame: Juggling Time, Space, and Resources in Building a Photo Career with Patience Ojionuka

A chat between outdoor / nature photographer & mountaineer Matt Payne and photographer, filmmaker & Youtube sensation Sean Tucker, author of the creative guide The Meaning in the Making about how one can use photography to help find purpose in life and finding purpose with photography.

Finding Purpose in Your Pictures, with Matt Payne & Sean Tucker

The B&H Photography Podcast: Join us every other week for a conversation with insightful and entertaining guests. From gear and technique to history, science and art, we discuss the issues most important to the contemporary photographer.

Arts Across NC is a podcast by and about the North Carolina Arts Council. Founded in 1967 with the democratic vision of "arts for all citizens," the North Carolina Arts Council sustains and grows the arts for the benefit of North Carolinians and their communities. Join us as we celebrate the rich history of the arts across North Carolina.

CIRCUIT CAST is a podcast produced by CIRCUIT Artist Moving Image, interviewing contemporary artists about recent exhibitions and how they approach their practice. CIRCUIT is Aotearoa/New Zealand's leading distributor of artists' moving image works. 

www.circuit.org.nz.

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