What are you looking at?

Starting at the intersecting point of culinary and creative practice, Haneen Mahmood Martin and Caitlin Fargher discuss how an arts practice can be productive medium to unpack lineage and familial history, talk models of curatorial care and explore what it can look like to hold space for different experiences.This episode was hosted by Sharifah Emalia Al-Gadrie and produced by Honor Marino. What are you looking at? Is presented by Contemporary Art Tasmania.Haneen Mahmood Martin is a Kuala Lumpur born, Malay-Saudi multi-arts manager and programmer, writer, and artist who has worked extensively nationally and internationally, especially between Garramilla/Darwin, Narrm/Melbourne, Kaurna Yerta/Adelaide, and Malaysia. She works with a focus on best-practice engagement and ethical governance as it pertains to underrepresented migrant and PoC communities and building sustained relationships. Haneen is currently the General Manager of Corrugated Iron Youth Arts and has worked across the country and across art forms as a producer for the likes of Performing Lines, RISING, Biennale of Sydney, MPavilion, Regional Arts Australia and Next Wave, as a programmer as the inaugural Artistic Associate at Brown’s Mart, Manager of the National Young Writers Festival, and General Manager for Skinnyfish Music. Keeping a close eye on cultural advocacy and change at a national and international level, Haneen co-wrote the Engage! Report and Toolkit published by Contemporary Asian Australian Performance and Arts on Tour and holds an MFA (Cultural Leadership) at NIDA. She also manages a directory for Malay and Malaysian creatives in Australia and hosts the Sayang-Sayang Supper Club from her home.https://haneenmartin.com/https://www.instagram.com/haneenmmartin/Caitlin Fargher is a multi-disciplinary artist and budding arts educator working in sculptural installation, arts production and curation. Caitlin lives near the bush and rivulet in Kingston. Her work is created through an embodied practice that explores histories, sites, ecologies, and memories.  She collects materials responsibly from the environments that her works are informed by, including clay, flora, recycled objects, and minerals. Her methods of making are informed by gardening and cooking techniques, environmental systems, and family traditions. When working with people, she enacts a practice of care, trust, and creativity, allowing the people she works alongside to guide the collaborative, imaginative art making process, learning to together to create experimental and expressive moments in time.  Caitlin’s current projects include a solo exhibition at Devonport Regional Gallery, being one of the lead artists for The Future of Toys: Youngies and Oldies (Hobart City Council x Good Grief Studios), and resident at Poatina Arts Centre in 2024. She undertook the Art Farm Birch’s Bay’s Perennial Residency program in 2023 culminating in the children’s workshop IMAGINATION IRRIGATION; Watch this Space ARI's Travelling Artist Program in mparntwe/Alice Springs in 2021; as well as being Artist in Residence at Hadley's Orient Hotel in 2020 which culminated in the installation Sweet Water. She was the Contemporary Art Tasmania Curatorial Mentorship recipient in 2020 with her exhibition re-member. She was a Board Member and producer at Constance ARI from 2018-2024, initating projects such as ngayapi niyakara (Born to Dream), and was the treasurer of Good Grief Studios from 2019-2025 working on programming, events and community engagement. Caitlin studied at UNSW Art & Design, finishing with First Class Honours in Visual Arts in 2017, and in 2022 she began her Masters of Teaching (Secondary, Arts) at UTAS to further her interest in Art Education. From 2025 she will work as an art teacher at Elizabeth College.https://www.caitlinfargher.com/https://www.instagram.com/caitfar/

This episode of What Are You Looking At? is a series of conversations with artists Noah Johnson, Lila Meleisea and Justene Williams focussing on how the use of certain materials influence and inform their artistic practice.⁠ Produced and hosted by Sharifah Emalia Al-Gadrie for Contemporary Art Tasmania.Noah Johnson⁠ is a black multidisciplinary artist, born in Lutruwita (Hobart). They first began painting as a way to visually represent their creative mind and their roots to their African American culture which paved the way for their love of fashion and consequently sewing & design. Noah runs a fashion label DERECYCLER, an upcycling slow fashion label which came to fruition when they were 16 years old. Their values lie in sustainability and story telling through their textile art while they use a mixture of simple to intricate design choices to convey that.⁠Lila Meleisea⁠ has an interdisciplinary and social practice that places equal importance on both process and outcome. She is a conscious collaborator with others (human, plants, animals, cosmos) holding an understanding of balance and the importance of reciprocity. Using cultural research, community engagement, music, art and curiosity, she is a nurturer, teacher and advocate for holistic relationships between humans and the earth and environmental awareness.⁠Justene Williams⁠ emerged in the 1990s as an exponent of Sydney’s grunge culture. Since 2016, she has led multidisciplinary teams to create spectacular, often large-scale, long-format live works. Now she returns to an earlier form of ‘poor art’, using a ‘make-do’ ethos and revisiting ideas of labour. Collapsing personal narratives, consumer culture and mythology whilst channelling the spirits of art history, she finds inspiration from figures such as her father and his auto recycling yard and Santa Claus, celebrating the avant-garde dream of the total artwork whilst deconstructing and communicating with a 21st century body. Justene attempts to transform the everyday via action, energy, and emotion.Field recordings and music used in this episode is provided courtesy of Lila Meleisea. In order of appearance: (1) FOREST: MANUMEA featuring Dr Ulf Beichle: Field recording of Manumea call and Lila Meleisea - Fagufagu (2) SIAPO MAKING SOUNDS: Scraping (3) Lota Nu’u (Music: Mata’utia Pene Solomona, Words: Rev. James E. Newell (LMS Missionary), Tune Name: Samoana (Initiated by Elder Dr. Elia Ta’ase @ Pouesi DMA Recital 1992). Performed by Suga

This episode of What Are You Looking At? is a table conversation with Zara Sully, Pete Marseveen and Nour Abdullatif about the relationship between art and money, initially focussing on fundraising but then expanding to explore other facets.Zara Sully (they/them) is an artist, arts worker, curator, and researcher and director of Sawtooth ARI in Launceston, Lutruwita/Tasmania.Peter Marseveen (he/him) is a photographic artist, arts technician and activist based in Nipaluna/Hobart.Nour Abdullatif (she/they) is founder and director of Unassigned Gallery in Naarm/Melbourne. This episode is hosted and produced by Sharifah Emalia Al-Gadrie. What Are You Looking At? is presented by Contemporary Art Tasmania

This episode of What Are You Looking At? is a table conversation with Jade Lillie, Andy Hutson and Aunty Cheryl Mundy Trimanya, reflecting on collaboration and community engaged practice.Andy Hutson is a visual artist based in Nipaluna/Hobart and is the lead initiator and artist for the project Apologue Isle, which first exhibited at Contemporary Art Tasmania in 2024 and is, at the time of the episode release, showing at Burnie Regional Gallery.Aunty Cheryl Mundy Trimanya is a singer/songwriter, cultural educator, sculptor, and poet and is one of 34 collaborators on Apologue Isle as a set designer and maker and narrator for the piece The Sun, the Moon and the Caterpillar. Jade Lillie commissioned and curated ‘The Relationship is the Project’ — a resource book which has 40 different lived experience practitioners contributing insights about community engaged practice.This episode is hosted and produced by Sharifah Emalia Al-Gadrie. What Are You Looking At? is presented by Contemporary Art TasmaniaLinks: https://www.apologueisle.com/cheryl-mundy http://apologueisle.com/https://www.burniearts.net/Exhibitions/2025-Exhibits/Apologue-Islehttps://andyhutson.com/https://www.jadelillie.com/https://unsw.press/books/the-relationship-is-the-project/

This episode of What Are You Looking At? explores zines and zine culture, reflecting on the Contemporary Art Tasmania 2024 end of year exhibition, Paper Trail. Lead artists, Miranda Rogers, Jess Bateman and Leigh Rigozzi speak about the community building nature of zine-making and how zine culture is often based in sharing ideas and creating connections.This episode contains readings and excerpts from zines exhibited in Paper Trail by Beatrix, Fran Reeve, Niamh Marriott, Niccola Mudge, Siobhan Marriott and Timothy Hodge, narrated by producer Sharifah Emalia Al-Gadrie.Also included are readings and reflections from Paper Trail exhibition contributors Jade Irvine, Luke Cruddas and Tim Butcher.This episode also contains an excerpt from the Edge Radio broadcast of Xpress Radio which used their collaborative zine, created under the guidance of lead Paper Trail artist, Julia Drouhin, as a script to design their broadcast. Soundscapes and music are also provided by Xpress Radio, borrowing from an earlier work, Aquanebula, exhibited at Moonah Arts Centre in 2024.This episode was produced by Sharifah Emalia Al-Gadrie.Xpress Radio: ⁠https://www.edgeradio.org.au/shows/x-press-radio/⁠Small Press Zine Fair: ⁠https://www.facebook.com/smallpresszines/⁠Miranda Rogers: https://www.⁠instagram.com/miranda_h_rogers/⁠Leigh Rigozzi: https://www.instagram.com/leighrigozzi/Jess Bateman: https://www.instagram.com/jessbateman_/Julia Drouhin: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/julia_drouhin/⁠

Reflecting on Embraced in the Loving Arms of An Algorithm – v1.1 — curated by Jon Smeathers for Contemporary Art Tasmania in April 2024 — Sophie Penkethman-Young and Jon speak about intersections of their practices, algorithmic displacement and intervention and how care, cute and trust can be present in algorithm augmented curatorial models. This episode is hosted and edited by Sharifah Emalia Al-Gadrie and produced by Lisa Campbell-Smith for Contemporary Art Tasmania. 

A conversation with Leyla Stevens and Melanie Lane, reflecting on Balinese and Javanese dance, diasporic bodies working within and from traditional stories in contemporary practice, and the intersections of cultural knowledge and choreography. This episode was hosted by Sharifah Emalia Al-Gadrie and produced and edited by Lisa Campbell-Smith for Contemporary Art Tasmania. Sound courtesy of the artist, Leyla Stevens from the artwork 'Patiwangi, death of fragrance', 2021Leyla Stevens: https://leylastevens.com/Melanie Lane: https://melanielane.info/

For her final episode of What are you looking at? podcast Pip Stafford talks to Nadia Refaei, Alex Kelly, and Amy Spiers, asking them: What *can* art do?This episode explores how art can contribute to social change in the world. Nadia talks about the importance of exploring political identity through her work, Alex discusses how artists can collaborate with or contribute to social movements, while Amy shares how her work aims to highlight some of Australia's history of colonial violence. They emphasise that art can help unravel complex topics, tell stories, imagine futures, inspire conversations and act as a resistance tool, challenging ingrained structures and systems of thought. This episode was produced, edited and hosted by Pip Stafford for Contemporary Art Tasmania. Additional music from Blue Dot Sessions.Alex Kelly: https://echotango.org/ | https://unquiet.com.auNadia Refaei: https://www.nadiarefaei.com | https://www.instagram.com/tpanlutruwita/Amy Spiers: https://amyspiers.com.au/Zoe Samudzi: https://www.zoesamudzi.com/

This episode discusses Feras Shaheen and Jay Hennicke's exhibition at Contemporary Art Tasmania, Our Side of Things. The installation and associated programs were a vivid representation of freestyle football battles, workshops, and a celebration of the culture, incorporating dance, design, and sports. In this interview Feras recounts his experience combining his interest in dance and football, while Jay talks about his journey as a freestyle footballer that started at 14. The episode records their insights into this unique culture and its representation within the gallery. They share the inspiration behind aesthetics of the installation, freestyle football competition experiences, and their influences from other cultures and communities.Episode produced by Pip Stafford for Contemporary Art TasmaniaAdditional live audio courtesy of Feras Shaheen and Jay Hennicke from Our Side of Things main event, 26 August 2023https://contemporaryarttasmania.org/programs/our-side-of-things/

Artists are well-known pack rats. If you conjure up the stereotypical artist's studio in your mind, it might well be a sort of wunderkammer of materials of creation, inspiration and detritus. Artists also use collections, archives and the more orderly functions of taxonomy as material and conceptual underpinning. What do artists and archivists have in common? What are you looking at? host Pip Stafford explores the tensions between the past, the now, the subjective and the relational as it rubs up against the real, human lives and inspirations of artists. Featuring artist Ashe, artist and archivist Samara McIlroy and Gabbee Stolp talking about grief, online scams, the unruliness of digital memory, and the Sydney Olympics.**Editor's apology: this episode states that in Ashe's exhibition This Too Shall Pass, the performer was replaced with an image of the artist. This is incorrect - the photograph is not of the artist.**To read more about Ashe's Contemporary Art Tasmania exhibition, This Too Shall Pass and read Sebastian Henry-Jones' B-Theory: https://contemporaryarttasmania.org/programs/this-too-shall-pass/To read Gabbee Stolp's Inventory: https://contemporaryarttasmania.org/journal/The texts mentioned or quoted in this episode are (in alphabetical order of author name):Sara Ahmed, Happy Objects, The Affect Theory Reader (Melissa Gregg and Gregory J Seigworth, Duke University Press, 2010), p 29 - 51Kathy Carbone, Archival Art: Memory Practices, Interventions, and Productions, Curator The Museum Journal 53(2), 2020, p 257 - 263Elisabeth Kaplan, We Are What We Collect, We Collect What We Are: Archives and the Construction of Identity, The American Archivist 53(1), 2000, p 126 - 151Music for this episode is by Blue Dot SessionsWhat are you looking at? is produced for Contemporary Art Tasmania by Pip Stafford