Orms Air: The Orms Podcast

This week we're in conversation with Zoey Black, a content creator making waves on YouTube for her honest and open creations surrounding gender identity and trans visibility. 

Put on your headphones and dive into the conversation as we discuss the vital importance of authentic representations of trans lives, how language can change our very perceptions and relation to ourselves and others and peel back the layers to a deeper understanding of the force driving Zoey to do the work she does.

In this episode we discuss: 

• Zoey's YouTube channel which you can find and follow here
• They Called Me Queer, a collection of essays by individuals who fit into the queer narrative in South Africa
• 4-part documentary series SKEEF aired on Netwerk24

This week in our digital studio we are joined in conversation by body equality advocate Cleo Black or as many of us may know her Thirtylaundry.

Cleo takes us on her journey from her beginnings as a content creator to her growing influence as a body equality advocate fuelled by her thriving digital community. Cleo honestly shares about the emotional and mental struggles that not being represented in mainstream media brings and the battle she's constantly fighting to ensure a new generation of larger bodies are met with a deeper understanding.

The following brands are favourites of Cleo's and offer inclusive sizing:
Cotton On Jeans offers an inclusive sizing
Pick 'n Pay Clothing has given Cleo some gems over the past few years
Studio Farouche which is an exclusively inclusive clothing brand.
Style Rotate, the fashion renting service that gives you the option to rent out outfits for those special or not so special moments.
Shopaholic for swimsuits that are so cute you won't be able to buy just one.
Me and B, a mother and daughter design duo who focus on capsule collections and inclusive sizing.
Musea the label, as they're known on Instagram who offers a made to order service. 

As Cleo reveals she creates all of the visual content she creates on her mobile phone. With shooting on her phone comes an understanding of how to utilise the tools at her disposal to create the dreamy curation of her Instagram gallery. 
These are the apps Cleo uses:
Face Tune 2 for IOS
Auto Blur for Android 
Tezza
VSCO
Vintage Camera/ 8mm Vintage Camera

To plan her feed Cleo uses Later to plan and keep the curation of her feed on point and extra dreamy.

Trigger Warning: This episode contains conversation around gender based violence.

Lauren Theunissen, Orms Cape Town School of Photography lecturer, curator and artist takes the reigns and hosts Orms Circle 2019 Artist Yonela Makoba in conversation.

Join the conversation and gain an inside look into the Orms Circle Mentorship Programme from the view of two of the selected mentors. Discover the full mentor force behind the Orms Circle Mentorship Programme on the Orms Connect Blog here.

Yonela talks to her application to the inaugural Orms Circle Mentorship Programme 2019 and how discovering boundaries within her own experience allowed her to conceptualise her proposal for submission. From there she went on to create an entirely different body of work through the programme to produce a body of work for exhibition in collaboration with Orms at the FORM building in February 2019.

Join the conversation to learn more about how the Orms Circle Mentorship Programme influenced Yonela's process, her understanding of who she is, how she creates and lots of giggles as we're taken on the journey.

Ready to submit your application? Find out more about the Orms Circle Mentorship Programme and submit you application here. 

This week on Orms Air we are joined by a creative whose work you may recognise from her book West Coast Wander, her presence on Instagram and her blog filled with mouth-watering recipes and adventures from the same towns around South Africa. Of course, we're chatting with East Afternoon's Georgia East!

With a focus on local places, businesses and flavours, Georgia invites us all to join her on her quest to highlight the delicious delicacies just outside our door. Through her social presence, recipe book and mouth-watering blog there's no denying that Georgia knows local flavours and wants you to know them too!

Be sure to join Georgia and Rachel in conversation for all of the inspiration and hunger pangs that come with charting Georgia's creative journey.

For more deliciousness be sure to take a look at East Afternoon blog and Instagram, and to bring a bit of Georgia and the West Coast home with you find out more about West Coast Wander here.

Instantly recognisable, the work of photographer Tatenda Chidora speaks volumes to his practice and the connections forged by capturing a piece of his subjects essence.

Now, Tatenda joins us in conversation and allows us to pull aside the curtain and gain a deeper understanding of his process, the importance of minimalism in the sharing of authentic stories and how lockdown in South Africa has had some unexpectedly positive results.

You can find more of Tatenda's work on his Tumblr and Instagram

Join us in conversation with artist, producer, photographer, DJ and all-round creative powerhouse Gina Mwoombola, or as you may know her Gina Jeanz.

Gina joins us in our digital studio and shares her creative beginnings, what influenced her to leap into following her musical dreams and the intention behind her creations.

We don't refer to Gina as a powerhouse lightly and were truly blown away by how multi-talented she truly is. From her music to all of the graphics and imagery that goes along with it, Gina has her hands on every element of her creative process. Follow along as we dive into the depths of this incredibly talented Woman's journey.

Gina speaks about being invited to join the Rackless Kazi DJ Residency programme in 2019. Rackless Kazi is a female DJ training residency program that aims to capacitate, connect and build networks amongst young women who are largely underrepresented in electronic music. You can find out more about this residency programme on their website here.

Interested in taking a journey through Gina's music contributions? Find her work on Soundcloud here and don't forget that supporting the artists whose work keeps us going is a way to show that we appreciate their work. Support local artists, always.

Travel and Documentary photographer Paul Choy joins us in conversation on Orms Air, join the conversation and stand the chance to WIN a pair of Fujifilm KF10-42H Binoculars worth R5000.

As a Fujifilm Global Ambassador and a member of the Fujifilm X-Photographer program, Paul is a big fan of Fujifilm's X series of cameras. He has a gear collection to envy shooting on the Fujifilm X-Pro3, Fujfilm X100V and a range of Fujifilm's greatest lenses giving him a creative edge you can see through his imagery.

Paul joined us in our digital studio to share his introduction to the art form of photography, the mind-blowing experiences and travels his camera have actioned in his life so far and shared his thoughts on cognitive separation of us and them.

To find out more about Paul Choy and his work be sure to have a look at his website and give him a follow on Instagram to go along with him on his travels.

To enter our giveaway be sure to get your entries in here.

Due to the world-wide COVID-19 outbreak many of us are confined to our homes for varying amounts of time in order to flatten the curve and stop the spread of this virus.

While we are under lockdown, Orms Air duo Jess Semple and Rachel Reeves are back with another episode but this time we're putting all of our focus on sharing the spaces from which we are drawing inspiration during this time.

We know how difficult it can be to keep inspired and to keep creating which is why we are sharing with you all of the digital spaces we are using to keep our inspiration levels full, and to ensure you that it is okay to keep creating but that's it's also okay to take a break and recharge.

For the full list of spaces and people mentioned in this episode head on over to the Orms blog here.

We're here with you in this uncomfortable space and will continue to include you in our conversations, be sure to get in touch by emailing [email protected] should you have any suggestions of who you'd like to hear on Orms Air or if you just want to chat.

This week we are joined in studio by Art Brut creator Roger Ballen, join us in this bucket-list ticking conversation as he graciously imparts a realism and wisdom we could never have expected.

Roger joins us to discuss the implications uncomfortable art has on our creative process, his exploration into colour photography and the launch of his latest book The World According to Roger Ballen.

To find out more about The World According to Roger Ballen, The Roger Ballen Centre For Photographic Arts or to find Roger on various social platforms have a look at his website here: https://www.rogerballen.com/

In this first episode of Orms Air season two, we are joined by Orms Cape Town School of Photography's Smartphone Photography Lecturer and creator in her own right, Lauren Theunissen. 

Grab your headphones and join us as we unpack the rise of smartphones as a creative tool, the freedom and limitations of these devices as well as the push-back from some in the creative community.

To find out more about Lauren's Smartphone Photography course and Orms Cape Town School of Photography be sure to take a look at their website here https://ctsp.co.za/