In the fifth episode, alongside Nikolai Azariah, we share and discuss his work ‘Visions in the Crucible’, a twelve-minute audio narrative. By following the protagonist through an alternate world in which people become crystallised in salt, Azariah invites us to consider the multiple interpretations of salt. Made in tandem with his real-life observations of salt as a material, the work blends the study of alchemy with fiction. Together we discuss the links between female mystics and medieval alchemists through gendered knowledge and their varying relationships with science and spirituality.

Nikolai Azariah is a Finnish-British video and installation artist whose practice delves into memory, place and poetry, navigating myth to make sense of the world. His recent work investigates salt as material and manifestation of poetic meaning. As a juncture of opposites and the essence of corporeality, salt is taken as both subject and framework for his practice. This is viewed through the lens of alchemy, a deeply material and profoundly spiritual practice, combining thoughts on the human soul with experimentation in the laboratory. Restructuring, possibility and transformation are inherent in the alchemical processes he uses to uncover salt’s hidden virtues.

Artist Nikolai Azariah

Hosts Nina Davies and Niamh Schmidtke

Music Joe Moss and John Trevaskis

Producer Flo Lines

Broadcast through Radio Thamesmead