Talking Tough

Christina de Witte is an Antwerp-based Belgian illustrator and cartoonist, famed for creating the character Chrostin. In this third and final bonus episode of Talking Tough, our three hosts Jill Mathon, Bo Hanna and Shamiro van der Geld talk to Christina about the value of creativity, and how her art has helped her during the lockdown.

On behalf of Christina, Dr. Martens is proud to support Merhaba with a donation through the production of this episode. Head to www.merhaba.be to find out more about the organization.

Conversations on rebellion and resilience continue on Talking Tough this week with Kriss Munsya, a multi-disciplinary Congolese artist raised in Brussels, Belgium. Our three hosts Jill Mathon, Bo Hanna and Shamiro van der Geld spoke to Kriss on the back of his recent photography series "The Eraser," and explore themes of race, gender and identity.

Dr. Martens Belgium is bringing you three special episodes of the Talking Tough podcast, hosted by Jill Mathon, Bo Hanna and Shamiro van der Geld. In the first, we sit down with Belgian-Caribbean musician Charlotte Adigéry after the release of her debut album, Foundations, to talk self-care, inspiration in isolation, and staying connected to her culture.

On behalf of Charlotte, Dr. Martens is proud to support Wikifriends with a donation through the production of this episode. Head to https://wikifriendz.wixsite.com/wikifriends/l-association to find out more about the organization.

There aren’t many more radical voices in contemporary fashion than Charles Jeffrey. The designer, illustrator and creative originally hails from Glasgow, and has become renowned for LOVERBOY, a brand and cult club night committed to pushing the boundaries of performance and experimentation in fashion. Georgia Moot and Charles chat all things self-identity, community, and the importance of safe spaces.

Emma Dabiri is a writer, presenter and social historian. Throughout her prolific career across books, television series and radio programmes, Emma has worked to ask some of the most important questions facing the Black British public, most notably in her best selling novels Don't Touch My Hair and What White People Can Do Next. For Talking Tough, she sat down with host Georgia Moot to discuss anti-racism, allyship and deconstructing race.

For Emma's recommendations on where this conversation is continued, check out the list below:

Books: Futures of Black Radicalism; Edited by Gaye Theresa Johnson and Alex Lubin

For Charly Cox, poetry has always been a way of expressing herself. Since she was 15, she’s used it to document her mental health struggles, and now as a full-time writer and poet she is an ambassador for the charity MQ Foundation and uses her experience to further the conversation around mental illness.

In this episode of Talking Tough, Charly and Georgia chatted about the importance of destigmatizing mental health and how Charly’s work so poignantly expresses the coming-of-age of a young woman surviving the modern world.

She Must Be Mad - Charly Cox

Validate Me - Charly Cox

MQ Mental Health Research https://www.mqmentalhealth.org/home/

On stage, Blaine is the lead singer of legendary indie band the Mystery Jets. Off stage, he has been spearheading a movement to make music more accessible for people living with disabilities, working with the charity Attitude Is Everything to improve access to live music. Blaine sat down with host Georgia Moot for Talking Tough to chat the need to make space for peoples differences, and what we can all do to make music more accessible for everyone.

Attitude is everything:

DIY Access Guide UK:

Gig Buddies:

Drake Music:

Heart n Soul:

Things worth fighting for:

Model, activist, and co-founder of ‘Be Who You Deserve’, Nyome Nicholas-Williams has been unapologetically leading a movement against body censorship. For this episode of Talking Tough, Georgia sat down with Nyome to discuss how her campaign #iwanttoseenyome changed Facebook’s policy on how they assess semi-naked imagery to ensure all body types, namely black plus size bodies, are treated fairly on their platforms. Having worked with photographer Alex Cameron and previous Talking Tough guest Gina Martin, they also talked about Nyome’s activism for body positivity, mental health awareness and healthy coping skills.

To kick off the second series of Talking Tough, Georgia Moot chats to Jamie Windust about the importance of visibility for non-binary people and why everyone should learn to make their lives less about the labels they go by and more about the joy they bring. Jamie is an award-winning LGBTQ+ writer/editor, speaker and invincible voice for change within the fashion and beauty industries, who combines wit and creativity to deliver a powerful message on diversity.

To learn more about uplifting others' joy over their trauma, and the experiences of marginalised genders, Jamie's top picks are:

Books

Unicorn - Amrou Al-Kadhi

Articles

Naomie Pieter has always made her voice known. In the third and final episode of our special edition Talking Tough mini-series recorded in Rotterdam, Jill, Bo and Shamiro find out more about the woman behind the megaphone. Naomie is a choreographer, founder of Black Pride Netherlands and Pon Di Pride. Naomie is also one of the driving forces behind Kick Out Zwarte Piet and Black Lives Matter in the Netherlands. And yes - she is able to do all this with just 24 hours in her day. In this episode, we talk to her about healing and the importance of love in the broadest sense of the word. 

On behalf of Naomie, Dr. Martens is proud to support the FOKO Curaçao Foundation with a donation through the production of this episode. Head to https://www.facebook.com/outcuracao to find out more about the organization.

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In de derde en laatste aflevering van onze speciale editie Talking Tough mini-serie opgenomen vanuit Rotterdam, pratten Jill, Bo en Shamiro met Naomie Pieter. Ze is choreograaf, oprichter van Black Pride Nederland en Pon Di Pride. Ook is Naomie een van de drijvende krachten achter Kick Out Zwarte Piet en Black Lives Matter Nederland. En ja, ze heeft ook 24 uur in haar dag. In deze episode hebben we het met haar over heling en het belang van liefde in de breedste zin van het woord.

Namens Naomie doneert Dr. Martens een geldbedrag aan Stichting FOKO Curaçao. Meer weten over de organisatie? Kijk hier: https://www.facebook.com/outcuracao.