9 WORDS PODCASTS: IMAGINE
‘The Exhibition’ at Mander Centre - image by Dee Patel
IMAGINE – Leanne O’Connor & Ewan Johnston
In this podcast we talk to collaborating artists Leanne O’Connor & Ewan Johnston
Trigger warning: expletives are used in this podcast!
“Mythic heroes, protest, politics and humour in 39 minutes.” Bobby Tiwana
‘People’s Placards’ image by Dee Patel
‘Abolish Capitalism’ image by Dee Patel
Extracts from the podcast
“When the pandemic hit, I just got quite a bit of time to think through things and brought into sharp contrast just the way the world, or the system of the world we live in is kind of crumbling and like trying to cling onto itself. So, kind of switched my practice up sort of quite abruptly put a Sainsbury's bag on my head.”
“Before, people would just tell me they liked my stuff, now people tell me they dislike it. And that to me makes me feel I’m doing something right, if they have to tell me that they dislike it and miss the stuff I was doing before then clearly, I’m provoking some sort of reaction.”
“My thinking of it was like that Sword in the Stone is like a champion, someone pulls a sword from a stone and they’re a champion… I'm always thinking like the right-wing always gets these champions but the left-wing never gets them because they either get shot or too shook because they are going to get shot or they just like kind of self-effacing in that ‘why would I be the leader?’ because it’s tied up in in all that socialism sort of, ‘I'm no better than anyone else stuff’.”
“There was that group of kids that ran in and who were about to get chucked out by security and we were like ‘No come in here instead and make a placard’. And they were just so dumbfounded that like ‘We could imagine anything we want, on this, for free?’. We’re like ‘Yeah’, it’s just ‘What would you change?’ There was that one person that was like ‘I’d get rid of pigeons. I don't like pigeons. That's what I do. I’d make a Hunger Games but pigeons against pigeons. So, there would be no more’.”
“Going to a protest is really empowering but the result of those protests doesn’t always play out. So, you can shout all you want, but mostly the issues you are shouting about will be taken out of your hands and decided by someone else.”
“Somebody was a conservative and they didn’t like the ‘Ban the Tories’ placard cos they thought that they would be banned from the shopping centre. …It’s interesting that a proposition like that can make… them feel unwelcome… I think a lot of Conservative politicians make masses of people unwelcome.”
“When you ask someone a question, some people give a funny response then that is kind of generally their way of coping with the world is humour. Some people will give an angry response, that’s their coping mechanism. Some people give a hopeful, positive response that’s their coping mechanism.”
“I was sifting through some mail and I found a letter from the Prime Minister which was talking about, an earlier letter about how ‘everyone needs to do their bit. ‘People need to stay indoors, not go out, I know it’s hard, we are gonna get through this and if we all do it together’. It just felt like such a big fat lie, reading it in the context of partygate.”
“I think there is a lack of reporting on African students not being let through and being violently opposed on the Polish borders. I think that’s really really distressing to see.”
“The world's always equally or not even equally just brutal and barbaric and shit and also hopeful and beautiful.”
“Whitmore Reans is like an eye to the world because you can stop and have a conversation with someone from Ukraine and you can have a conversation with someone from Palestine, you can talk to someone from South America, like every time there’s a conflict in the world, a big group of them will end up in a place like Whitmore Reans.
Download the transcript of the podcast here.
Imagine Credits
Artists Leanne O’Connor & Ewan Johnston
Presented and produced by Bobby Tiwana
Sound design, engineering and editing by Duncan Grimley
Commissioned by Creative Black Country
Funded by Arts Council England
Supported by Wolverhampton Arts & Culture and Paycare.
‘House the Homeless’ - Image by Dee Patel
Ewan Johnston, Bobby Tiwana, Leanne O’Connor