Investigating Who We Are Across Media And Millennia: Season Preview with Emily Withnall and Andrea Klunder
[00:00:00] Emily: Bienvenidos! I’m Emily Withnall, editor of El Palacio Magazine and host of Encounter Culture.
[00:00:09] Andrea: And I’m Andrea Klunder, lead producer and editor of Encounter Culture.
[00:00:13] Emily: And we are here at Kabby Sound Studios in Santa Fe, getting ready for season seven of the show!
[00:00:19] Andrea: Moments ago, we just recorded a conversation with Rebecca Gomez, curator at the National Hispanic Cultural Center Art Museum and Strike, a New Mexican style writer and graffiti artist who is featured in Convergence x Crossroads: Street Art from the Southwest at NHCC.
Emily…
Now I’m putting you on the spot. We don’t usually do this after our interviews. But what stood out to you from our conversation today?
[00:00:48] Emily: I think the main thing that stood out to me from my conversation with Rebecca and Strike is that street art is this very rich, complex, interconnected community, and I had no idea.
I grew up in Las Vegas, New Mexico, and, you know, it’s a very small town and I used to see tags and different styles of letters and art and murals and all kinds of things, but I never realized that it all belonged to these different categories of street art and that there was this huge network of street artists.
So that was very interesting for me to learn.
[00:01:21] Andrea: Yeah, and I also was interested in–I think Rebecca was talking about how there’s a lot of misconceptions around street art and graffiti, in terms of it being considered “outsider” or something that wouldn’t normally be featured in a museum per se. And it was reminding me of an episode that we released during season three of Encounter Culture, way before you were our lovely host, and that episode was “Science Fiction for Social Justice” with Jadira Gurule and Augustine Romero.
And their conversation was about what it means for people of color to see themselves in those narratives–in that case, science fiction – but then also to have that in a museum setting at NHCC.
[00:02:10] Emily: I would also add that in our last season we talked to the curators of the Between The Lines: Prison Art…
[00:02:16] Andrea: Oh yeah.
[00:02:16] Emily: …show at the Museum of International Folk Art in Santa Fe, and there were a lot of similar themes there about the representation of people, you know, who have been incarcerated, who don’t often see themselves reflected in the art world.
[00:02:32] Andrea: I love these connecting threads.
And speaking of connecting threads, a few weeks ago for our upcoming season, we also recorded with Tommy Archuleta, who is the Poet Laureate for Santa Fe.
And I think in that conversation we got to see a different side of Tommy than what I had seen in previous interviews or poetry readings that he’s done. And I know you love the poetry episodes so much!
[00:03:01] Emily: I do! We interviewed Lauren Camp, who’s the New Mexico State Poet Laureate in the last season of Encounter Culture.
I started my love of writing through poetry. I love nerding out about poetry with whoever wants to do that with me. So, I really enjoyed talking to Lauren last season and Tommy this season, and I was really struck, too, today hearing Strike talk about his art as being kind of “blessings and prayers” for his community, and then thinking about talking to Tommy about the remedios that he has woven through his collection and his ideas for healing for all of us in this time.
[00:03:43] Andrea: So those are the two episodes that we’ve recorded so far for season seven, and this is just a little teaser, a little taste of what is coming up for our audience. We didn’t bring notes into the studio with us today, but can you think of what else we have in store for our lucky audience this season?
[00:04:01] Emily: Yes.
So we are going to be talking to a professor from UNM who’s going to be sharing the history and mythology around La Llorona and the folktales. We’re also talking to some researchers who have done research in White Sands about the footprints there that kind of reconfigure our whole idea about when Indigenous peoples have been on this continent.
Andrea: I’m particularly excited about an experimental format episode that we’re doing kind of behind the scenes of the visitor experience at the Museum of International Folk Art.
Emily: Yes, we’re gonna be interviewing two staff members, one of whom has worked at MOIFA for twenty years, so I’m sure he’ll have a lot to say about that experience.
And another woman who works at the front desk and gives tours to children and has lots of thoughts to share about her work at MOIFA.
[00:04:57] Andrea: Brilliant.
[00:04:59] Emily: We’re also going to be talking to a photographer who was the artist in residence with the New Mexico Arts program at Lincoln this year, and he was taking photographs of the oryx, which are not a native species. But they were put in White Sands long ago and do not belong there, but they’ve been proliferating because the environment is great for them and they have lots of food compared to their native territory in Africa. So we’re gonna be talking to him about his photography.
[00:05:31] Andrea: I had not a clue what an oryx was. “Oryx”–is that singular and plural?
Emily: (laughter) I’m not sure.
Andrea: This is so exciting. I am really, really looking forward to preparing the rest of the season.
[00:05:46] Emily: Yes! Season seven of Encounter Culture starts on October 16th, 2024. The best way to never miss an episode is to subscribe or follow in Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or your favorite podcast app, and follow El Palacio magazine on Instagram.
[00:06:05] Andrea: In the meantime, we would love if you would catch up on previous episodes of Encounter Culture, especially the ones we mentioned today…
[00:06:12] Emily: …which we will link for you in the show notes, in the episode description on your app, and at podcast.nmculture.org.
[00:06:21] Andrea: And don’t wait to catch Convergence x Crossroads at the National Hispanic Cultural Center Art Museum. It’s open now through February 23rd, 2025.
[00:06:31] Emily: And in case you didn’t know, you can use CulturePass for admission to learn more and reserve your CulturePass. Visit culture.org/visit/culturepass
[00:06:44] Andrea: Or just click the link in the show notes.
Emily, thank you for recording this season preview with me today. It was so much fun.
[00:06:50] Emily: Thank you, Andrea,
[00:06:51] Andrea: And thank you, audience, for listening.
[00:06:53] Emily: Please enjoy season seven!