My Private View

Murray Hidary is a musician, composer and entrepreneur and the creator of MindTravel, an immersive experience combining live improvisational piano, meditation and deep listening.

In this conversation, Murray talks about his journey from technology and entrepreneurship into music, consciousness and human connection. We explore the origins of MindTravel, the power of improvisation, the role of meditation and the ability of music to express what words cannot.

Murray also reflects on the loss of his sister, Mariel, and how that experience profoundly changed his relationship with music.

A conversation about music, consciousness, connection and the possibility of travelling somewhere within ourselves through sound.

00:07 Introduction to My Private View

04:06 The Power of Music to Transport Us

05:24 Music as a Tool for Grief and Connection

06:23 Exploring Mind Travel and Its Impact

06:43 Exploring the Intersection of Music and Experience

06:43 Introduction and Technical Difficulties

06:43 Exploring the Nature of Music and Experience

06:43 Introduction and Technical Difficulties

07:08 Exploring the Nature of Music and Experience

52:34 The Influence of Literature on Creativity

Murray Hidary
Musician, composer, photographer, entrepreneur and creator of MindTravel.

🌐 Murray Hidary:
www.murrayhidary.com

🎹 MindTravel — immersive experiences where music and mindfulness meet:
www.mindtravel.com

📸 Instagram:
@murrayhidary

🎥 YouTube:
Murray Hidary on YouTube

MindTravel brings together Murray's improvisational piano, mindfulness and immersive environments, creating experiences designed to encourage reflection, connection and a different way of experiencing music.

Explore upcoming MindTravel experiences and the wider MindTravel community:
MindTravel

MindTravel

About My Private View

My Private View is a podcast about art, creativity and the ideas that sit behind the work. Si Sapsford talks to artists and creative people about their practice, their experiences and the questions that shape what they do — looking beyond the finished work to discover the stories, thoughts and unexpected connections behind it.

What does it mean to really see someone, rather than simply recognise an image or make an assumption about who they are?

Artist Faisal Abdu’Allah joins me for a conversation about representation, identity, memory and the place of art in public life. Having known one another for over twenty years, we revisit the seminars we shared at the University of East London and reflect on the importance of curiosity, dialogue and learning from one another.

Faisal recalls how looking at paintings in the National Gallery as a young person prompted questions about the ways people who looked like him were represented. We explore the barbershop as his first university — a place of observation, storytelling, transformation and shared history — and discuss how these experiences continue to inform his work.

From Garden of Eden and Blueprint to Hair Traits, we consider how art can challenge inherited assumptions, explore shared humanity and preserve traces of lives and experiences. We also discuss my sculpture Civil Unrest, the importance of ambiguity, the role of music in memory, and why art belongs at the centre of public life.

The episode opens with a short reflection on looking, Narcissus and artificial intelligence, and the possibility that we sometimes need something outside ourselves to understand what we are thinking.

A conversation about seeing more carefully, remembering more deeply and keeping the questions.

Works, books and ideas mentioned

This conversation moves through artworks, books, music and ideas that have shaped Faisal’s thinking and our shared discussion. The references below offer starting points for exploring some of those connections further.

Books recommended by Faisal

• Parable of the Sower — Octavia E. Butler
• They Can’t Kill Us Until They Kill Us — Hanif Abdurraqib

Artworks and artists discussed

• Garden of Eden, Blueprint, Hair Traits and I Wanna Kill Sam — Faisal Abdu’Allah
• One and Three Chairs — Joseph Kosuth (identification to be confirmed)
• Electric Chair — Andy Warhol
• Guernica — Pablo Picasso
• Glenn Ligon and James Baldwin

Film and music

• The Fade — filmmaker and title to be confirmed
• Shifting Gears — Johnny Hammond
• A Tribe Called Quest

chapters

00:05 Introduction to My Private View

00:49 Reflecting on Seminars and Teaching Methods

00:49 The Nature of Reflection

03:30 The Role of AI in Human Reflection

04:03 The Nature of Reflection

07:18 Personal Growth and Awareness Through Art

11:15 The Role of the Barbershop in Community and Identity

20:08 The Barber's Chair: A Space of Trust andTransformation

24:26 Art as a Reflection of Society and Personal Experience

28:01 The Significance of the Chair

30:21 Transformation Through Haircuts

32:16 Monuments and Memory

34:23 The Process of Creation

38:45 Identity and Memory

46:47 Art as a Central Dialogue

51:16 Navigating Ambiguity in Art

52:56 The Timelessness of Civil Unrest

55:46 The Process of Writing Memoirs

56:57 Reflections from the Barber's Chair

57:12 Book and Music Recommendations

Writer and editor Lauren Schott joins Si Sapsford for a conversation about writing, creativity and the long process of turning an idea into a novel.

Lauren is the author of Very Slowly All at Once, a psychological thriller about marriage, mystery and the consequences of seemingly small decisions. Before becoming a novelist, she spent more than two decades working in publishing and editing.

In this conversation, Lauren talks about where ideas come from, why she can spend months thinking about a story before writing it, creating characters, editing and the difficult balance between working on other people's stories and finding time for your own.

We also talk about children's books, publishing and rejection, writer's block, adapting books for screen, and the growing impact of AI on writing and the creative industries.

At the end of the conversation, Lauren recommends a book that has stayed with her, and Si responds with a recommendation of his own.

My Private View is a series of conversations about how we look at art and culture — and what we notice, think about and take away from the creative work of others.

The conversation follows her transition into television through The Heist and Hunted, exploring how genuine investigative techniques are adapted for screen, the ethics of surveillance, and why human behaviour remains the most revealing clue of all.

A thoughtful conversation about judgement, resilience, leadership and what years spent reading people can teach us about ourselves.

Topics include:

• Becoming a police officer by chance
• CID and major crime investigations
• Risk assessment and instinct
• Misogyny in policing
• Burnout and leaving the police
• The Heist and Channel 4's Hunted
• Surveillance and privacy
• Human behaviour under pressure
• Leadership and decision making

Book recommendation: The Child in Time by Ian McEwan.

My Private View is a podcast exploring art, culture and the ideas that shape the way we see the world through conversations with artists, writers, thinkers and people with extraordinary experiences.

Website:https://www.georginabradley.com/LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/georgina-bradley-58738a138/Watch Hunted:https://www.channel4.com/programmes/hunted

My Private ViewWebsite:www.sisapsford.comInstagram:@my_private_viewYouTube:

@myprivateview.

In Episode 1 of My Private View, Si Sapsford talks with artist, curator and podcaster Gary Mansfield about art, identity and transformation.

After serving 7 years in prison, Gary discovered art in unexpected circumstances — an experience that changed the way he saw himself and the world around him. Together they explore creativity as a catalyst for change, discussing perception, trauma, resilience and reinvention.

A conversation about second chances, self-understanding and the transformative power of seeing differently.

00:00 Introduction03:10 Early life and prison08:20 Discovering art inside prison16:45 Conceptual art and changing perspective28:30 Identity, stigma and reinvention39:10 Scars, trauma and artistic practice50:00 Second chances and social change59:00 Final reflections