Ground: Episodes 1-3

GROUND is a cluster of 3 podcast episodes — Stone, Sand and Salt. Through Ground we hope to open dialogues around occupation, sovereignty, custodianship, extractive politics and processes, excavation, (infra)structures, architectures and resistance.

 

CANVAS: Unframing Art & Ideas: Stone (1/3 in Ground)

This episode is Stone, and is one of three episodes, Stone, Sand and Salt which are bound together by the overarching theme of Ground. Stone is the stuff of buildings, borders and walls. And when those structures fall, their rubble and ruins are stone. Stone is the home of ancestors, the surface on which we walk. Stone is an embodiment of time, hard and rigid but when worn down, crumbly and soft.  Stone is heavy with history and knowledge and rich with the potential to create futures. Stone is the grounding theme of this episode.

Stone features an insightful discussion with artist Megan Cope, a Quanda-mooka woman, about her work Re Formation and the Aboriginal architecture of middens. We hear the sound artwork Body Remembering – Grinding Stone by Yindjibarndi artist Katie West and a responsive poem by Narrm-based writer and educator Neika Lehman. CANVAS Host Ayeesha Ash is joined by artist Alana Hunt to unpack her work Faith in a Pile of Stones, they are joined later in the conversation by Chris Griffith, a Miriwoong man, to further discuss practices of extraction.

 

 

CANVAS: Unframing Art & Ideas: Sand (2/3 in Ground)

This episode is Sand, and is the second of three episodes, Stone, Sand and Salt which are bound together by the overarching theme of Ground. Sand is transformative. It is particles ground down by the passage of time, sifted over beaches and deserts and awash under rivers, lakes and oceans. These particles can be reformed, brought back together through heat and industrial processes to form glass, we peer through it as windows, cut ourselves on it as shards and often forget it’s sandy origins. Sand is the grounding theme of this episode.

Sand features a discussion between CANVAS Researcher, poet, filmmaker and educator of Wiradjuri heritage Jazz Money and Joel Spring, a Wiradjuri man raised between Redfern and Alice Springs who works across research, activism, architecture, installation and speculative projects. We hear from artist and writer Lynette Smith and the audio from her video work sand/fog. CANVAS Host Ayeesha Ash is joined by artist Koji Ryui for a chat about his installation TOT and the alchemy of the everyday. Finally we are transported as artist and writer Bianca Hester reads an excerpt from her text Sandstone

 

 

CANVAS: Unframing Art & Ideas: Salt (3/3 in Ground)

Salt is pervasive. It seasons our food, enhances our senses, it preserves and it tenderises, it coats our skin when we sweat and melts into our tongue as we eat. Salt disrupts agriculture, has spurred revolutions and treats aches and pains. Mined from ancient lakes, evaporated from oceans or bought at the corner store, salt is the grounding theme of this episode and a pivotal material for the artists we hear from.

Salt features a discussion between CANVAS Host Ayeesha Ash and artist Keg De Souza about her performative and salty dinner project The Only Rock We Eat. We hear from artist, educator and writer Emily Morandini and the audio from her sculptural work Crystal Speakers. Yasmin Smith joins us for a discussion about her work participatory ceramic work Drowned River Valley, delving into the history of salt in New South Wales, its production, utilisation and entwinement with colonial processes. Finally we hear a discussion between members of Karrabing Film Collective at Mabaluk in the Norther Terroritory as they exchange words about connection to Country.