On the Irregular with Java Bere Java Bere

In this episode I talk with autoethnographic artist Hannah Turlington.We talk about growing up as a people pleaser,training as a teacher despite wanting to study textiles,eventually becoming a textile designer and realising it was no longer what she wanted,grieving the person that she thought she would one day be,Coming to terms with not being able to bear children and her experience of the adoption process.We also talk about her work with a creative mentor and later, Hannah was kind enough t...

In this episode I am talking to calligrapher, bookbinder and writer Gaelle Jolly.Gaelle and I have followed each other on Instagram for many years, and it was a joy to finally meet over zoom.In this chat we talk about our shared love of writing letters, Gaelle’s passion for getting lost in imaginary worlds, we talk about losing her husband and how instagram helped her process her griefWe discuss the dangers of placing all our self worth into our creative process, and how fruit is only excitin...

In this episode I am talking to gardener and allotmenteer, Heidi-Lee Gregory.In 2020, having experienced a sequence of losses and readjustments in her life, Heidi turned her back on twenty years in the corporate world and decided to start from scratch and completely change direction with her path.We talk about Heidi’s move from her native South Africa to the UK, losing her father at a young age, then the process of losing her beloved grandparents, the realisation that she did not want to have...

In this episode I talk with Susanna Amato, who describes herself as: actress, theatre maker, writer, clown and humanitarian.Susanna also has a podcast where she invites guests to bring a paper based memory to talk through and shred, based on her theatre piece Landfill of Memories.We discuss Susanna’s identity, how this forms a huge part of her creative process, she tells me about losing her father and sister, holding onto the memory of loved ones through objects and how much she loves both th...

In this episode I am talking with author, art historian and lecturer Joanna Wolfarth.Joanna was the first person I interviewed for this season. I was feeling nervous and out of practice, but Joanna’s gentle warmth and grace shone through my headphones and I immediately knew that this was exactly where I wanted to be. Sat, listening to her story.In our chat, we discussed Jo’s shifting approaches to writing throughout her life, we talk about her book ‘Milk: An intimate History of humanity’s fir...

In this episode I talk with my dear friend and neighbour, the author, Rozie Kelly.On a sunny autumn morning, Rozie and I headed out for a walk through the fields. We talked about about losing her dad in lockdown and how this time of enforced solitude helped her embrace her grief, and also, how Buffy the Vampire Slayer featured heavily in this process.We talked about her soon to be published debut novel Kingfisher.We talked about how the loss of her dad has impacted how she thinks about storie...