Welcome to the last in the current series of Making a Splash. My guest this week is Gemma Cairney: a broadcaster and author who you may know from her shows on Radio 1 and 6Music, as well as her current TV show Landmark on Sky Arts. Gemma is a devoted sea swimmer who’s currently turning her hand to sustainable swimwear design. 

Tune in as we discuss the language of the sea, swimming through rainbows, meeting Grace Jones, and the best music to swim to. As well as the magic of swimming in the Walpole Bay Tidal Pool in Margate.

You can follow Gemma on Twitter and Instagram, and you can find her swimwear project Embodied Swims on Instagram too. And you can catch her TV show here: Landmark on Sky Arts. 

To find out more about future series, you can follow me on Instagram @AmberButchart, #MakingASplashPod. Thanks for joining me! 

*Please be aware that cold water swimming can be dangerous. Read and follow the advice at the Outdoor Swimming Society if you are new to it*

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week I’m diving into the super interesting history of queer mermaid mythology with Sacha Coward. Sacha is a queer historian, tour guide and escape room designer who has been working at museums and heritage sites across the UK for over a decade. He is also a folklorist with a passion for the hidden histories of mermaids and mythical creatures. At the moment he is working on LGBTQ+ tours along the river Thames with the Brunel Museum as well as developing a series of virtual tours about videogames for the Museum of London. 

Tune in as we discuss queer mermen hidden in plain sight in central London (Trafalgar Square to be precise), lesser known queer mermaid histories from Hans Christian Andersen to Disney, mermaids in art history, and why the mermaid is such a powerful symbol for the queer community.

You can follow Sacha on Twitter: @sacha_coward, and you can follow me on Instagram @AmberButchart, #MakingASplashPod to find out more about future guests and episodes.

*Please be aware that cold water swimming can be dangerous. Read and follow the advice at the Outdoor Swimming Society if you are new to it*

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week I’m exploring the cult of swimming in revolutionary China, with Ferren Gipson: art historian, writer, presenter, and a doctoral researcher in Chinese art at SOAS, University of London. Ferren is the host of the Art Matters podcast, and the author of The Ultimate Art Museum, with a forthcoming title for Quarto Publishing on the way.

Tune in as we discuss the function of rivers and seas in Chinese propaganda poster art, Mao’s cult of swimming and the dawn of the Cultural Revolution, and how the humble dressing gown became an unlikely heroic garment. 

We also consider how Chinese revolutionary realist art differed from Soviet socialist realism, the stories behind some of the most well known French swimming paintings (or swimming-adjacent paintings), and the pictures from art history you definitely would NOT want to swim in.

You can follow Ferren on Twitter and Instagram. The art history course mentioned in this week’s show was Art and Revolutionary China, taught by Ferren for Black Blossoms School of Art and Culture - I’d recommend checking out all their courses.

You can follow me @AmberButchart, #MakingASplashPod to find out more about future guests and episodes, and find some of the images discussed in this episode.

*Please be aware that cold water swimming can be dangerous. Read and follow the advice at the Outdoor Swimming Society if you are new to it*

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.