Olana Janfa is an Ethiopian-Norwegian, Naarm-based artist. We interviewed Olana at The Walker Street Gallery and Arts Centre in Dandenong where his exhibition Too Much Drama is showing till September 2024.

We chat about:

• How Olana began creating
• The works in his current exhibit Too Much Drama
• Olana’s iconic font and art style
• What home means to him
• Being black in Australia and Norway
• What’s next for his art career

Hosted by: Maria Birch-Morunga and Kate Robinson

Guest: Olana Janfa

Special thanks to: The City of Greater Dandenong & The Walker Street Gallery and Arts Centre

Music by: the Green Twins

Edited by: Maria Birch-Morunga

This podcast was recorded live on the lands of the Boon Wurrung people of the eastern Kulin Nations.
You can find us on Instagram @beingbiracialpodcast or send us an email at beingbiracialpodcast@gmail.com

Kitiya Palaskas is a Greek/Thai multi-disciplinary designer living in Naarm.

We chat about:

• Discovering her mix through DNA testing
• Her art sabbatical in Thailand
• Turning 40 and entering a new phase of life
• Having an identity crisis
• Can you appropriate your own culture?
• Feeling seen in colours, plants and precarious piles
• Growing up moving around the world
• Your bedroom as home
• Being ethnically ambiguous
• Family as a complicated site for cultural connection
• Greek statues were colourful!

Links:

https://kitiyapalaskas.com

https://www.apartmenttherapy.com/color-chromophobia-and-colonialism-some-historical-thoughts-185710

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/10/29/the-myth-of-whiteness-in-classical-sculpture

https://www.npr.org/2022/07/12/1109995973/we-know-greek-statues-werent-white-now-you-can-see-them-in-color

Hosted by: Maria Birch-Morunga and Kate Robinson

Guest: Kitiya Palaskas

Music by: the Green Twins

Edited by: Kate Robinson

This podcast was recorded on the lands of the Boon Wurrung and Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung peoples of the Eastern Kulin Nations.

You can find us on Instagram @beingbiracialpodcast or send us an email at beingbiracialpodcast@gmail.com

Milo Hartill is Botswana/Australian, and a model, performer & fat queer content creator living in Naarm.

We chat about:

• Musical theatre school
• Growing up in Perth
• Always being the only black person in the room
• “I’m not racist but…”
• Capitalism catching on to race
• Triple bi - bisexual, biracial, between fat and skinny
• Being asked to be ‘sassy’ in auditions
• Their show, Black fat and fa**y
• Using your trauma for good
• Black hair being seen as ‘unprofessional’ in casting
• DMs from her dad
• Surviving the arts industry as a black person
• How Milo was scouted to be a model
• Being credited as a hair stylist

Hosted by: Maria Birch-Morunga and Kate Robinson

Guest: Milo Hartill

Music by: the Green Twins

Edited by: Kate Robinson

This podcast was recorded on the lands of the Boon Wurrung and Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung peoples of the eastern Kulin Nations.

You can find us on Instagram @beingbiracialpodcast or send us an email at beingbiracialpodcast@gmail.com