Hoda Afshar on the impact of protest art and photography in the Women, Life, Freedom uprising in Iran. Plus, the unconventional life of 19th Century painter Rosa Bonheur, and painter Marikit Santiago on ambition, conflicting identities and banana leaves.

On this episode, two artists and two very different takes on place and belonging. Callum Morton focuses on the built environment and Naomi Hobson is deeply embedded in the natural landscape.

Dylan Mooney's work celebrates young Black characters embodying queer love. And he does it in a bold, heartfelt graphic style that is proving irresistibly popular with audiences. Plus, Ali Tahayori on the poet Hafez, and creating art about queerness and otherness, through kaleidoscopic mirrors.

Jennifer Higgie talks about her new book on women artists and the spirit world. Plus, Daniel visits the largest collection of artworks by the Victorian medium Georgiana Houghton, held at a spiritualist church.

2023 is going to be the year of AI art. If you’ve been playing around with text-to-image apps like DALL-E 2 or Stable Diffusion, you know how remarkable the technology is and how fast it’s moving. UNSW AI Institute's Prof Toby Walsh talks about the history of artificial intelligence and art, artist Kim Leutwyler on the experience of having your artwork used to ‘train’ AI (without consent) and Rodolfo Ocampo sees a new type of hybrid artist emerging, as well as certain artforms completely transformed by AI. Plus, how does a 3D animator and digital native feel about the direction AI is set to play in the creative industries? 

Five years ago, Texta Queen was riding high with a mid-career survey show, that should have marked a significant  achievement for the artist. Instead, it resulted in a kind of burnout with the whole system. It led the artist to find new ways to have a career independent of the gallery system and build towards a residency project for other queer, disabled and BIPOC artists, called They Swarm. 

Jerry Saltz  is the Pulitzer prize-winning art critic for New York Magazine. Before he turned his hand to writing at the age of 40, he drove long-haul trucks and was a failed visual artist. Jerry reckons the gatekeepers of the art world have effectively 'effed off' and now anyone can —and must— take part. Jerry Saltz's latest book of essays is Art is Life.

Great conversations with visual artists, gallery and museum directors and curators.

Great conversations with visual artists, gallery and museum directors and curators.