Sometimes it seems people are just born gifted and Zoom Rockman started his working artistic life from the age of eight, when he was self-publishing his own monthly comic, The Zoom, now considered a collector's item. Today Zoom is an award-winning political cartoonist, illustrator, puppet animator, and now the Director of his first animated one hour film, Survivor. This is the true story of Ivor Perl, who survived the Holocaust, age 12 with his brother. In stark contrast to Ivor’s life, at age 12, Zoom had become the youngest cartoonist for the world's longest running comic The Beano. At age 16, he became a regular contributor at Private Eye, the UK's number one best selling News and Current Affairs magazine. Zoom's humor and observation was already mature enough for this audience, but six years later, he quit after receiving an anti-Semitic death threat for one of his cartoons and lack of response he felt he had from the magazine. Many more accomplishments have since continued. One being in 2023, Zoom Rockman's, Jewish Hall of Fame, was billed as the ‘must see summer exhibition,’ where he created interactive life size automata of Jewish icons, including Lord sugar, Amy Winehouse and Sacha Baron Cohen. Suffice to say, the London Evening Standard newspaper has previously named Zoom as one of the most influential Londoners under 25, and he was included on Instagram's first ever 21 under 21 list within the art category. Zoom's gift of visual storytelling is ever more pronounced with his new film Survivor. This is a huge act of compassion, archival accuracy and artistic skill, telling the true story of Ivor Perl's survival. To do this, he has created an astonishing 150, hand animated paper puppets representing real people. The intricate detail of his sets accurately replicate locations, and the film is accompanied with music by the award-winning composer Erran Baron Cohen and vocals by Pini Brown, whose voice grips the emotional magnitude of this story. The film is based on Ivor Perl's book and testimony, Chicken Soup Under the Tree. We also talk about the importance of visual literacy, authenticity and telling the truth versus dis-information and failing education. Links are below to follow the film and for screening information.

Images courtesy of Zoom Rockman. Survivor images are reproduced with the permission of Lemon Soul.

Discover More:

FILM www.survivorfilm.com

IVOR PERL’S BOOK www.lemonsoul.com/products/chicken-soup-under-the-tree?srsltid=AfmBOopCsd-yBvpDEkXZaTjx_emAbzBBlZFiZnu5eC0nchFKyFTc0fQ5

MARCH OF THE LIVING www.marchoftheliving.org.uk/

HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL DAY 2025 www.hmd.org.uk/what-is-holocaust-memorial-day/this-years-theme/

VOCALS BY PINNY BROWN www.linktr.ee/piniontheroof

COMPOSER ERRAN BARON COHEN www.erranbaroncohen.com

Podcast Host - Paula Moore

Series Audio Editor - Joey Quan.

Series Music - Courtesy of Barry J. Gibb

Closed Captions are added to all audio interviews in this series.

Read only, text transcripts of every interview, news, reviews and your host are available here: www.canartsaveus.com

THANK YOU FOR LISTENING. PLEASE SHARE THIS FREE TO LISTEN SERIES AND HELP MAKE THE ARTS ALL OF OURS.

Sunaura Taylor is an artist, writer, activist, academic and mother. Sunaura is the Assistant Professor in the Division of Society and Environment and the director of the Disabled Ecologies Lab at the University of California, Berkely. A skilled artist, her artworks have been exhibited at venues such as the CUE Art Foundation, a contemporary art space in New York City, the Smithsonian Institution, the world's largest museum, education, and research complex and they are a part of the Berkeley Art Museum collection. Sunaura is also the author of Beasts of Burden: Animal and Disability Liberation, which received the American Book Award. Her current book is, Disabled Ecologies: Lessons from a Wounded Desert and whilst it’s not a memoir, it is personal and political. She documents how residents organized one of the earliest and most successful environmental justice movements in the USA. Sunaura is a game changer, a global thinker, she brings together what environmental and disability movements can learn from one another. Her books reveal how disability and ableism shape our understanding of nature and environmental crisis. She uncovers networks of disability, both human and wild, that are created when ecosystems are corrupted and profoundly altered. Sunaura raises an important question we should all be asking in the name of shared justice, “What happened to us?” Not, what happened to you? This is someone with an incredible eye for detail, for whom painting is a love of seeing and whose political statements are also drawn from sharp observation, analysis and lived experience. Sunaura also has a critical understanding of curiosity cultivated in her alternative childhood education of being 'unschooled.'

Sunaura Taylor

Aquifer Losing Reach, Speculative Aquifers Series

Pen and Watercolor on Paper, apx 11 x 8’’, 2017-2020

Sunaura Taylor

Animals With Arthrogryposis

Oil on Canvas, 6’ x 9’ (72“ x 108”), 2009

Author Photo © Julius Schlosberg

Discover Sunaura Taylor: www.sunaurataylor.net/

Series Audio Editor - Joey Quan.

Series Music - Courtesy of Barry J. Gibb

Closed Captions are added to all audio interviews in this series.

Read only, text transcripts of every interview, news, reviews and your host, Paula Moore, are available here: www.canartsaveus.com

THANK YOU FOR LISTENING. PLEASE SHARE THIS FREE TO LISTEN SERIES AND HELP MAKE THE ARTS ALL OF OURS.

Tonye Ekine is one of the top 40 British Rising Stars recognized by the Royal Society of British Artists. He is also recently back from the world renowned, Venice Biennale, where he was selected for a highly prestigious fellowship with the British Council. In its 60th anniversary year, the Venice Biennale attracted half a million visitors to celebrate ground breaking artists from around the world. Tonye has set himself apart from other contemporary African artists with his distinct use of the iconic, Ife Bronze masks in his paintings. Ife is the religious and royal center of the Yoruba people in Nigeria and the masks are exceptional works of art, dating back to the 12th century. Born in Nigeria, Tonye is now based in London and by foregrounding his Yoruba heritage in his contemporary art, he raises questions of identity, the legacy of colonialism, the social masks we wear in everyday life and he isn’t shy of uncomfortable paradox. Tonye’s role as an artist is set to move through the world in different ways taking his identity and roots with him. He says: “There is freedom in expression – and that’s where you find identity.” He’s interested in being part of design, fashion, marketing, brands in communication and education, his openness is refreshing. He prioritises knowledge as currency not economic status. We talk about identity and authenticity, connection as the most important form of validation and optimism.

Discover Tonye Ekine: www.wherestonye.com/

The Art of PR is the first exhibition to collectively present the work of established and emerging artists from the UK public relations sector, including Tonye Ekine.

Visit the Coningsby Gallery: info@coningsbygallery.com / 07884 314361

18 November 2024–23 November 2024

www.coningsbygallery.com/exhibition/the-art-of-pr-november-2024

Series Audio Editor - Joey Quan.

Series Music - Courtesy of Barry J. Gibb

Closed Captions are added to all audio interviews in this series.

Read only, text transcripts of every interview, news, reviews and your host, Paula Moore, are available here: www.canartsaveus.com

THANK YOU FOR LISTENING. PLEASE SHARE THIS FREE TO LISTEN SERIES AND HELP MAKE THE ARTS ALL OF OURS.