Seen

Professor Veena Sahajwalla spent her childhood running through the the bazaars of Mumbai and watching her mother’s holistic approach to medicine. These experiences shaped Veena’s unique perspectives on science, which have seen her recognised as the 2022 NSW Australian of the Year and awarded the Eureka Prize. In this episode of Seen, Yumi Stynes speaks with Professor Veena Sahajwalla about her passion for recycling, her determination to change the world with science and how she’s paving the way for other women in her field.

Most Australians would regard our health system as world class, but there’s an ecosystem of discrimination that many of us often don’t see. Stuart Yiwarr McGrath is a Galiwin’ku man from north-east Arnhem Land. He’s passionate about shifting the dial on health discrimination and providing culturally appropriate healthcare to his community. Yumi Stynes speaks to Stuart about becoming the first Yolngu registered nurse, and what it means to reconcile both black and white parts of his identity.

When Shyamla Eswaran sat down for a portrait with Archibald prize-winning painter Blak Douglas, he saw Shyamla in a light they weren't ready to see themselves. Yumi Stynes chats with the dancer and artist about growing up South-Asian in Sydney’s Shire, reckoning with their gender fluidity, and connecting with their culture through dance.

Imagine performing shirtless as an Asian male in a room full of neo-Nazi’s? In the height of the punk scene in the 80’s, the Hard-Ons were a force to be reckoned with, defiant in the face of all odds. Yumi Stynes talks to punk legend Ray Ahn about his experience coming to Australia as a Korean migrant, discovering his love for punk rock, and the Aussie rock legend who shaped what Ray himself thought was possible.

Atong Atem’s way of expressing herself has taken the art world by storm. Within a culture that celebrates whiteness, Atong’s futuristic self-portraits celebrate and centre blackness. Yumi Stynes speaks to artist Atong Atem about her experience migrating to Australia, finding community and the weight of hypervisibility as a black woman in today’s world.

Writer, activist and broadcaster Yassmin Abdel-Magied is, for better or worse, one of the most visible women in the Australian media. The negative backlash that followed a couple of social media posts in 2017 left her questioning what she’d done wrong and where she belonged. In this episode of Seen, Yumi Stynes and Yassmin chat about the limitations of the model minority myth, what it’s like to be ‘cancelled' and what moving on looks like.

As a young actor looking to make his mark, Michael Mohammed Ahmad faced one problem, people only wanted to cast him as a drug dealer. Yumi Stynes sits down with Michael Mohammed - novelist, playwright and founder of Sweatshop Western Sydney Literary Movement. We hear about his experiences growing up as a young Muslim Lebanese man in a post-9/11 world, the defining moments that have shaped his career, and how mirroring is key to nuanced representation.

Growing up, Hannah Diviney was constantly asked what her paralympic sport was going to be. “I would always turn around and be like, see my two sisters over there. How come you're not asking them what their Olympic sport is going to be?” Join Yumi Stynes as the pair discuss why representation is so important, taking on Lizzo, and how Hannah is working to shatter misconceptions about disability.

Narelda Jacobs is a Whadjuk Noongar woman and the first Aboriginal, openly lesbian newsreader on TV in Western Australia. Join Yumi Stynes as the pair reflect on Narelda’s relationships with her parents, coming to terms with her sexuality, forging her career in media and the responsibility she bears as a very visible First Nations media personality.

If you can see it, you can be it. But what happens when you look around and nobody looks like you? Join host Yumi Stynes for Seen, a new SBS podcast about cultural creatives who rise to excellence in spite of arriving in a role-model vacuum. Trailblazers like writer Yassmin Abdel-Magied, musician Ray Ahn, and Olympian Ellia Green share the transformative moments they felt seen.