Ep. 37: Politician Bobi Wine; Visual Artist Shirin Neshat; Singer Ghostpoet; Filmmaker Elizabeth Carroll on Diana Kennedy

A huge pop star in Uganda, throughout Africa and internationally, Bobi Wine who is also known as Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu is a well known figure in the music world for his Jamaican dancehall inspired sound melded with afrobeat. His songs have become an anthem for political change, criticizing the ruling elite and inspiring the country's young population. Despite brutal attempts to silence him, Bobi Wine refuses to shy away from challenging the status quo and the thirty three year rule of President Yoweri Museveni. Stance caught up with him over the line in Kampala, Uganda.

Next up is visual artist Shirin Neshat. Her accolades include being named as ‘Artist of The Decade’ in HuffPost, winning the Silver Lion for Best Director at Venice Film Festival, and she was recently honoured by The Broad Museum in LA with a lifetime retrospective. Whether it's her photography, her film making or video work, Shirin Neshat is an extremely inventive artist whose work draws upon the religious, political and gendered codes that shape human existence. Her latest exhibition Land of Dreams at Goodman Gallery in London, consists of 111 portraits and video work. Stance began by asking her about her childhood memories of pre-revolution Iran and her hometown of Qazvin located just under 100 miles northwest of the capital Tehran.

It’s been almost ten years to the day that British singer, songwriter and musician Ghostpoet burst onto the scene with his self-released EP, The Sound of Strangers. The following year his debut album, Peanut Butter Blues & Melancholy Jam was nominated for the prestigious Mercury Music Prize and his third album, Shedding Skin, led to yet another Mercury Music Prize nomination. When Ghostpoet started working on his fifth album, I Grow Tired But I Dare Not Fall Asleep, two years ago, he had no idea that when it was finally ready for release, its themes would never feel more urgent. As one of many artists now facing an uncertain future, we started by asking how he was coping at the moment.

Do you know Diana Kennedy? Maybe your parents or grandparents do and we didn’t until we heard about filmmaker, Elizabeth Carroll who has profiled this extraordinary woman in her first ever documentary. At 97, Diana has spent the last 70 years living and breathing the cuisine of Mexico and has made it her lifelong mission to educate the world about Mexican food. Revered in Mexico for her knowledge and expertise in traditional food preparation and culture she has been recognised by Mexico’s government. Given the country's highest accolade for a non-Mexican - The Order of the Aztec Eagle. Stance spoke to Elizabeth Carroll on the phone at home in Austin, Texas. She began by telling us how she first came across Diana and more about her debut documentary Diana Kennedy: Nothing Fancy.

As we all try to cope with the restrictions that COVID-19 has brought to our lives, Stance wondered if there was a global commonality to be found in our experiences. We asked people from around the world to share their quarantine journals. We hear from Mumbai, Guadalajara, New York and Ulaanbaatar.

EP cover artwork: Shirin Neshat - Unveiling (from the Women of Allah series)