With Naiza Khan

What stories do maps and charts hold? Artist Naiza Khan selects four objects from the museum archives, bringing an artist’s lens to navigational tools and historical documents. This episode explores migration through an Indian Ocean monthly current chart, the artist’s interpretation of invasion in The Bombardment of Alexandria (1882), the symbolism of a 1956–57 Suez Canal medal, and the art of etching in a sketch of The Prince of Wales—an East India Company ship lost in a storm in 1804.

Naiza Khan is a visual artist working between London and Karachi. Trained at the Ruskin School of Art, University of Oxford, she examines colonial history, geography, and collective memory in her multidisciplinary practice.

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With Azara Jaleel

While in Sri Lanka, Mehala invites Azara Jaleel to examine a portrait photograph titled Ceylonese Man. The image—featuring a gentleman in a striking turtle-shell headdress—remains shrouded in mystery. This episode unpacks the significance of formal portraits, the pride of past generations, and the deeper ties between dress, identity, and land.

Azara Jaleel is the founder and editor-in-chief of ARTRA Magazine, Sri Lanka’s leading modern and contemporary art publication. She has led discussions on Sri Lankan art with international artists, architects, and historians.

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With Anisha Parmar

Queen Zeenat Mahal, the last Empress of India, was a warrior, freedom fighter, and strategist—yet her legacy is often overshadowed by history. In this episode, Mehala and jewelry designer Anisha Parmar discuss a miniature painting of Zeenat Mahal and explore how her story continues to inspire creative work today.

Anisha Parmar is a UK-based jewelry designer and cultural practitioner whose work is deeply rooted in her hybrid heritage and the diaspora experience.

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With Taran Wilkhu & Nishant Shukla

The seaside holds a special place in British culture, but what does it mean for South Asian communities in the UK? In this episode, Mehala, Taran, and Nishant reflect on The Great British Seaside, a series by photographer Martin Parr, commissioned by Royal Museums Greenwich. They discuss the photographs, which capture South Asian families enjoying classic British seaside traditions, and share their own experiences of seaside trips, storytelling through photography, and the nuances of diaspora life.

Taran Wilkhu is a London-based lifestyle photographer specializing in interiors, architecture, and portrait photography. Nishant Shukla is a photographer working between the UK and India, and the director of Lake Gallery in Deptford.

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With Dee Gibson & Zaynab Zubair and Mehala Ford

What does a flag mean to a nation? To its people? Mehala, Dee, and Zaynab—members of a Sri Lankan women’s creative group based in London and Sri Lanka—visit the museum archives to view the National Flag of Ceylon (1948–1951). Seeing the flag in person sparks an emotional conversation about identity, homeland, and diaspora. They reflect on how flag symbolism evolves over time and how it shapes collective memory.

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With Shalina Patel and Mehala Ford

What is a ‘cooli’? After the abolition of slavery in 1833, the British replaced it with a system of indentured labour, recruiting workers from India under exploitative contracts. In this episode, historian and author, Shalina Patel, explores the realities of Indian indentured labour through a selection of objects linked by the term ‘cooli.’

Shalina is an award-winning UK teacher and historian, and author of The History Lessons, which highlights stories traditionally left out of textbooks, particularly those of women and people of colour.

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In this episode, artist and PhD researcher, Rudy Loewe, and artist, Sharon Walters, discuss a range of archives from the Royal Museums Greenwich collection that focus on the impacts of the colonial gaze in historic portraiture. Together, Rudy and Sharon explore the concept of critical fabulation, coined by Saidiya Hartman, to reclaim and reimagine the lives of historic Black people, mostly those who were enslaved. They discuss the violence of museum spaces and archives and how researchers can insert care into the archive as well as caring for themselves. This episode is a beautifully honest and open discussion into how creativity and queer research methods can provide access to and empower the histories of Black African and Caribbean communities.

Emma and Yasmin in conversation with writer/poet performer, creative educator and project developer Zena Edwards and poet, DJ, workshop facilitator and co-founder of swimming collective, Swim Dem Crew Nathaniel Cole. Listen to their thoughts on everything from how their personal identity and heritage has influenced their work to stereotypes, climate issues and cultural belonging.

The second series of Descendant Talks sees the Gen Z Collective in conversation with poets and artists who participated in Speak Pon Dem, a live music jam which celebrated the Spirit of Windrush 75. In this episode Nya'lay and Nathaniel talk to the actress, poet, author and dedicated youth worker, Maia Watkins and the writer and visual artist, Kareem Parkins-Brown to discover why they took part in this event, and how their personal identity and heritage has influenced their work. They take a look at where their inspiration comes from and what the legacy of being children of the diaspora means to them.

In this episode, Sharon is joined by Fiona Compton to discuss a number of different pieces from the museum collection. The discussion evokes conversations around propaganda, representation, beauty standards and violence. Be prepared to be taken on a rollercoaster of emotions in this episode, rounding the series off with a note on the importance of self-care.

Fiona Compton @knowyourcaribbean

Sharon Walters @london_artist1

Find out about the objects mentioned in the episode here