Raw Material : A Podcast from SFMOMA
Raw Material is an arts and culture podcast from the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Each season we partner with a different “podcaster-in-residence” to explore modern and contemporary art through a new lens. Along the way we bring you voices of artists and thinkers from around the globe who offer surprising perspectives on the world through their work.
This season, podcaster-in-residence Babette Thomas leads listeners on a journey through the power of Black Imagination — surfacing voices of Black Bay Area art history pioneers in the archives and dreaming about free Black art spaces of the future.
Executive Producer: Myisa Plancq-Graham
It’s MIXTAPE Season! This year activist, writer, mischief- and media-maker, and self-described “cyborg oracle” Alice Wong lends her voice to the Raw Material platform! Alice is sharing five episodes from her podcast Disability Visibility that bring listeners to the intersection of art and disability. Read more about Alice and this season’s Mixtape here! Away. We. Go!
Executive Producer: Myisa Plancq-Graham
Take an audio stroll through San Francisco’s Mission District and learn about the murals seen throughout the neighborhood and the artists who collaborated to create them. Local writers Olivia Peña and Josiah Luis Alderete interweave their perspectives on the history of the Mission Muralismo movement with stories from the muralists themselves.
Featured Artists: Juana Alicia, Susan Cervantes, Daniel Galvez, Mia Galaviz de Gonzalez, Nancy Pili Hernandez, John Jota Leaños, Consuelo Méndez, Irene Pérez, and Patricia Rodriguez.
Myisa Plancq-Graham – Executive producer, interviewer, sound recordist
Camilo Garzón – Voice director, co-writer, sound designer, interviewer, editor, sound recordist, and lead producer
An open voicemail line for Black people. Speak freely.
A caller from Oakland shares their thoughts on the importance of using your voice.
"People are gonna keep pushing you and pushing you and pushing you until you say something to them - until you say something to them, until you speak up, until you let them know that’s not cool. I just feel like we need to just, you know, bind together and, you know, continuously fight for these things. Continuously speak up. Continuously dispel the information we might have. Continuously expose this shit. Continuously stand up for everybody of color, every woman, everybody that doesn’t identify as straight, everybody who has been oppressed ever."
A caller from Seattle shares their thoughts on Jordan Peele's "Get Out".
"So, I went and I saw “Get Out” and I was like, “Whoa! Why am I, like, totally flashing back to my life?” I think that’s probably what every Black person in America – who’s had to be in White spaces – was thinking. We’ve all had those interactions and those conversations and those really awkward moments where White people are so…I don’t even know the word for it. Cause it’s not just racism, it’s not just micro-aggressions. It’s just, like, basic human awkwardness. And it’s like…I don’t know. You know when you’re watching a car accident and you can’t turn away? Those moments of just having to sit and watching Daniel Keluuya’s smile…and his little side eye…just trying to take it. And, I’m thinking, “God, how much longer are we just going to keep taking this?” Hmm. I don’t know."
A caller from San Francisco leans in.
"I started smoking more heavily in college after my father passed away and what I noticed about weed is that it wasn't a drug that helped me escape. It wasn't useful for me in that sense, what it helped me to do in fact was really sit with my thoughts, and really sit with my emotions and kind of gave me an opportunity to be still and tune into the experience that I was going through at the time. Yeah, if anything it helped me lean further into what would have been more convenient to escape from. And ever since, you know, cannabis has been a positive impact in my life."
A Denver caller wants to be somebody's Michelle, OK?
"Hello. Well I did something that I don't usually do. I'm interested in someone and I've realized in the past that I usually just go with the flow. When I like someone – push comes to a shove and, you know, we become intimate...So, with this new person, I looked him straight in his eyes and I said, you know, “I’m really interested in you, but I honestly want more than just a sexual relationship, and this is the last time I’m gonna spend the night at your house”. And you know what he said? He was like, “well, thanks for the challenge”. And I guess I say this to say – Ladies, own up to who you are and what you value and appreciate about yourself and your uniqueness and what drives you to be a better woman not just for yourself but for other people I don’t have time to be fooling around in casualties...I want to be somebody’s Michelle, okay?"
A caller from New Orleans likes to dance.
"Hello, I am nine years old, nine and a half. I feel like the United States with Donald Trump as President is shameful because Donald Trump is such a weird personality. I feel like Black History Month is supposed to be celebrated by everyone and we should do African dances to celebrate it, cause I’m a dance person myself, you know? Just telling you something about myself. So…yea"
A caller from New York is not the secretary.
"Hi, I work on Wall Street, I'm currently Vice President at my firm. Back when I first started in the industry I walk into a meeting with my new team, and we're meeting with a company that provides services to us, and the senior level guy for the service provider immediately asks "Oh! Are you the secretary?". I was so taken back by the comment and just kind of a little bit embarrassed that he would ask that in a room full of people. I didn't know how to react, I didn't know what to say and even to this day, years later that has always stayed with me. That people that look like me in a Wall Street setting are not thought to be the revenue generators, and so in my mentorship and in my personal life it's become a passion of mine to make certain that are more women and that there are more African American women that can be a part of Wall Street and learn from it and be as passionate about it as I am, Thanks."
A thoughtfully crafted oral history animation of Master Weaver Kay Sekimachi. Sublime and ghostly visuals accompany Sekimachi's voice, guiding us first hand through the story her family and introduction to weaving.
Interview audio courtesy of the Japanese American National Museum and Archives of American Art.
Produced by: Morzov Productions
Executive Producer: Myisa Plancq-Graham
Animation Credits: Director: Rae Xiang 3D Animators: Sabine Birk Larsen, Olivia Petersson, Rae Xiang Cel Animators: Malin Eriksson, Than Loedsatien, Olivia Petersson Original Music: Bryan Stage
