Shaun Perkins Podcasts

From sculpture and ceramics to the cartoons featured in the Koori Mail, Danny Eastwood’s work is both prolific and iconic.He says his art is his heart and his voice – a means of talking about his life experiences, culture, and heritage. And now, it’s on display at the Leo Kelly Blacktown Arts Centre as part of his solo exhibition.…

Almost five years since Dan Sultan was last on road, he is set to begin touring again.And with the release of two new songs already this year, he discusses how his career has developed and why this is not a comeback.By Australian Broadcasting Corporation

Yugambeh linguist Shaun Davies delves into the language name itself and the power of names.By Australian Broadcasting Corporation

Episode 74: Trash and Treasure is about precisely that, or more imprecisely, about women and how you can't put them on a pedestal, nor can you bury them under it. Can we just learn how to be decent human beings? No. Okay . . . well, let's just read some poems and tell trashy jokes then.By Shaun Perkins

The Stars Descend is an ambitious work that consists of five chapters, crafted for five different communities in the south-west of Western Australia.Malgana woman Janine Oxenham is one of the choreographers of the work, as well as a performer — one of the literal stars.Between rehearsals Janine explains how the show came together.…

In 2019, Tony Briggs launched a weekend long festival dedicated to First Nations filmmakers from around the world — Birraranga Film Festival.Now in its third iteration, the biannual event is bigger than ever.By Australian Broadcasting Corporation

Thea has been named the recipient of the 2023 La Prairie Art Award.The award supports Australian women artists through an international artist residency, including travelling to Switzerland to attend the Art Basel international art fair in June.Following the announcement, Thea explains what the honour means to her.…

Throughout March, Yugambeh linguist Shaun Davies has been delving into the nuance of his language.This week his word selection has been inspired by our previous guest, Lorna Munro.By Australian Broadcasting Corporation

Episode 73: Stalked and Branded is a sort of continuation of Episode 72, where we discuss more poet stalking information around the Ruth Finley case, plus other poets as stalkers or stalkers as poets and carving poems in desks. Oh, also a branding or two.By Shaun Perkins

Linguist and Yugambeh man Shaun Davies shares a word you may have come across before but as Shaun explains when you look at the formation of the word it goes much deeper.By Australian Broadcasting Corporation

Ahead of her performance at the Hand In Hand Kidogo Irish Aboriginal Festival gospel blues singer Olive Knight shares why she's still something on a hidden gem despite having graced some of the biggest stages in the world.By Australian Broadcasting Corporation

Almost 250 years after they were stolen by Cook and the crew of the HMS Endeavour, four spears will soon be returned to Country from England.Noeleen Timbery explains why this repatriation has been decades in the making, and how she felt when she first heard the news.By Australian Broadcasting Corporation

Episode 72: Poet as Stalker diverges from the normal WPL path and into serial killer/stalker territory with a true crime case not far from home. When poetry is therapy, when it is threat, when it is . . . therapy once again. And in the midst of it all: Blood and railroad tracks.By Shaun Perkins

Aaron Wyatt is a Noongar, Yamatji and Wongai man from Perth and the first Indigenous person to conduct one of the major orchestras in Australia.But growing up, Aaron didn’t really see himself pursuing a career in music.Ahead of his March performance as part of Musica Viva Australia, Aaron explains how his many skills fold into and compliment each o…

Yuin dancer and songwoman Sharon Mason knows the power of culture to heal.As founder of the Djaadjawan Dancers, she’s been revitalising Yuin song and dance on the NSW far south coast for years, and inviting other women on her journey.Now, Sharon is realising a long-held dream to bring traditional gatherings back to Country.…

When poet and multidisciplinary artist Jazz Money was asked to write an anthem for a major international LGBTIQA+ choral festival they began by thinking about the community and networks of care.With the help of composer Joseph Twist, it became "This is How We Love" and was performed by more than 500 singers from over a dozen choirs at Out & Loud & …

Yugambeh linguist Shaun Davies shares a word that his old people created in the early days of colonisation.By Australian Broadcasting Corporation

Episode 71: Agent Hunger and the Flaming Ducks is the working title of a new fantasy novel about a world where a secret agent is aided by a band of pyromaniac fowl in a land devastated by a poultry apocalypse . . . just kidding. It's about the poetic symbolism of fire . . . and ducks.By Shaun Perkins

The Huxley's work connects the world of photography, art-making, performance and drag and their latest exhibition Bloodlines is no different.By Australian Broadcasting Corporation

Dalara Williams is someone probably best known for her acting, but she's recently been named 2022 Balnaves Foundation Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Fellow.It's one of the country's most prestigious playwriting awards, and over the next 18 months Dalara will use the fellowship to develop a show set just down the road from Belvoir.…

Drag takes on more forms than there are colours in the rainbow. And Roymata Holmes is using one of those forms in their show I Am King/Queen – an autobiographical exploration of gender, culture and intersectionality.Roymata discusses how they’ve navigated the boundaries between private narratives and public performance.…

A health advocate with a long career in the community and the sector, Sue is one of the Koorie Wirguls – a lesbian support group set up in the 1980s which maintained a strong presence in the parade.She's also a board member of Sydney WorldPride.For the Muru-ba Indigenous oral history project, Sue shares her thoughts about the nature of pride: what …

Poet and podcaster Lorna Munro's passion for language has led her to understand the origin of words that she used every day, without knowing they were indeed Wiradjuri – words like nyin – for grandmother, which translates to ‘heart’.Her last word is not so much a word as a conjugation, a Wiradjuri term widely spoken in Aboriginal English, but which…

Episode 70: Love Is . . . begins with a knock knock joke and concludes with a fart joke. In between, there is Shakespeare and the biology of truth and trust as explained with a cell diagram by Dr. Bill, and through it all . . . ah! . . . the power of metaphor!By Shaun Perkins

Words are something Lorna Munro knows all about — her poetry is widely published, and she’s even translated the King’s speech from Shakespeare’s Henry V into Wiradjuri, the language of the central west of New South Wales.For Word Up this week, she shares a single word that can act as a greeting, ask a question and lay down a philosophical challenge…

Deborah Cheetham’s life story is both fascinating and heartbreaking — and it’s one of those Indigenous oral histories being collected for Muruba, a project for Sydney WorldPride.The Yorta Yorta soprano and composer discusses what 'pride' means to her, and why she's no stranger to a sense of occasion.…

Kamilaroi/Bigambul man Archie Moore is a contemporary artist whose career has spanned more than 25 years.Now he's set to become only the second Aboriginal artist to singularly present at the Venice Biennale, one of the world’s oldest events of its kind.Archie explains how he explores themes of racism, national identity and his own family history th…

Episode 69: Rhianna is Pregnant is perhaps not about Rhianna, but you will just have to listen to find out. You may discover it's about the poetic things that people have left in the world for others to see . . . or perhaps not see. Or maybe it's about the little known news that Rhianna is pregnant.By Shaun Perkins

The government’s newly released national cultural policy is a comprehensive road map that establishes the priorities for the federal government in terms of arts and culture.By Australian Broadcasting Corporation

In this excerpt of the Muru-ba Indigenous Oral History Project, Colin Ross reflects on what pride means to him as one of those who fought to stop the shame and the isolation — and the invisibility — that affected HIV-positive Black queer mob in the 80s and 90s.By Australian Broadcasting Corporation

Episode 68: It's the Real Thing is not about a Coca Cola ad, which you would not even think about anyway if you are under the age of 55, but it is about hands, hand in hand, fingerprints on one's hands, Ma Barker's gang of outlaws during the Depression and . . . hands, particularly Nancy June's hands and her lovely poem.…

Muru-ba is an Indigenous oral history project designed to unearth stories of LGBTQI+ community leaders for whom the notion of “pride” isn’t just a matter of sexual identity. For Ngarigo artist Peter Waples-Crowe, pride is 'a life long thing'.By Australian Broadcasting Corporation

On 8 February 1993, Clayton Lewis broadcast the first ever episode of Awaye on ABC RN.The goal was to reflect the depth, diversity and vitality of Indigenous culture through the arts. This week some of the people who've shaped Awaye discuss the way this principle holds true 30 years on.By Australian Broadcasting Corporation

Episode 67: Lady Gaga Scarecrow is actually about scarecrows, which we dare to discuss in winter, as this poem left in the museum pissed off Shaun but then it was all right and then, it becomes a pretty good poem or "pome," as the case may be. Bill reads it 3 or 4 times. We lose count and then we talk about Lady Gaga in her lampshade dress and stuf…

Julie Janson's crime fiction debut Muddaka The River Serpent is set in regional New South Wales, and features an aunty who’ll stop at nothing when it comes to fighting for her people and her land.By Australian Broadcasting Corporation

Bangarra Dance Theatre's new iteration of Dance Clan features the choreographic work from three artists, each of whom are either current or former dancers of the company.Ahead of the season premier choreographer Sani Townson shared the inspiration behind his work.By Australian Broadcasting Corporation

Muruwari and Pilipino rapper DOBBY has carved out a name for himself by delivering songs with a strong message, and his new song That’s Not Me is continuing along this rich vein.By Australian Broadcasting Corporation

Episode 66: Murder Poets is really only about one murdering poet, but it’s also about a poet writing about that murdering poet and . . . also Barbie and Ken. In all seriousness, we celebrate the winning poem from our Okie Outlaw Poem Contest, which Bill McCloud wrote: a lovely lyric about Bonnie Parker, herself a proclaimed poet. Reba McEntire also…

Episode 65: Fallen Woman takes you on a journey to the roadside haunts of a female in distress, a Precious Moments doll (to be honest), rescued by Bill and the instigator for Frankenstein-like transformation and poetry and tales of empathy of those who cannot suffer a naked baby doll. Yeah . . . that about covers it. OH, ALSO! Suggest a name for th…

Episode 64: Rodeo Clown has us tripping through the land of Couplets and Clowns, of the rodeo kind, in particular. Learn about the history of the rodeo clown, the joys of the couplet and hone your clown joke skills, while riding in a barrel through the 30 luxurious minutes of this episode. You know you want to.…

Episode 63: Wooly-Headed Decline takes its name from a computer-generated poem about loss. Never fear: Real poems are also a part of this episode, along with restless shadows, brain dissection, losing one's marbles and general cluelessness involving the meaning of the lyrics in Steely Dan's "Rikki Don't Lose That Number."…

Episode 62: Abject Terror takes its title from Professor Darren Hick’s response when he realized his students were using a program that writes essays for them. Thus, this is not a Halloween episode or a Poe or King story, but it could be–depending on your sensibilities. Bill and Shaun discuss computers writing poetry and the end of the world as we …

Episode 61: Fish are Biting Today details the inner workings of the fish mind, a wonderful poem by a visitor to the museum and a wonderful poem by Elizabeth Bishop, a memory of floating turds and various and sundry other memories. Do tell.By Shaun Perkins

Episode 60: Being Nobody begins with Chuck Norris, goes into Bruce Lee, and ends with a lovely Christmas poem, and in between we have a poem about just existing and Emily Dickinson sits in the corner and does her Nobody act for all the world to see. Or something like that.By Shaun Perkins

Ray Ingrey is a Dharawal man and chairperson of the Gujaga Foundation.Based in La Perouse it was created to instil a sense of cultural belonging in the area, and for Ray learning Dharawal language is central to this mission.By Australian Broadcasting Corporation

When then Prime Minister Paul Keating gave the historic Redfern speech on 10 December 1992, he challenged the nation to confront its past and open its heart.For the first time in Australia’s history a prime minister publicly acknowledged the critical role the government played in Aboriginal dispossession from land and the injustices of removing Abo…

Episode 59: How Still is about the Brady Bunch, paper dolls, asses, and Mrs. Santa Claus. Actually, it’s about a perfectly lovely Matsuo Basho haiku sent to us on a postcard from Japan in the year 2013. And it’s also about the Brady Bunch, paper dolls, asses . . .By Shaun Perkins