Art Proof Podcast Created and hosted by Eric Thorp, Nicholas Stavri and Rowan Newton

In episode 14 Rowan and Nick chat with New York based photographer Delphine Diallo about her life, lockdown and learning kung fu from the same teacher as Wu Tang’s RZA.

Diallo left a corporate job as a graphic designer and entered the world of photography after meeting acclaimed photographer Peter Beard at a dinner party. Since then she has been an unstoppable force exhibiting her work globally and collaborating with brands such as Nike, Vogue and Converse as well as with fellow artists Shepherd Fairey and JR.

In this episode we talk about Diallo's photography practice and how it has, more recently, lead to making intricate collage works. We discuss why she felt the move from her home in Paris to New York was a necessary one and why it has provided much wider scope for creative opportunities.

Diallo talks passionately about her spiritual path and how that, combined with her artistic practice, has helped her to stay creative during lockdown.

This time around we're joined by Isabella Summers aka Isa Machine.

Isabella rose to prominence as part of the band Florence And The Machine and has since enjoyed an extremely varied career that has included collaborations with Cy Twombly and Beyoncé.

We talk about her artistic beginnings as part of the South London squat-art collective !WOWOW! as well as her latest project - producing the soundtrack to the new Amazon series Little Fires Everywhere.

She tells us about her time touring with the band and how she turned it into a global gallery tour which ignited her interest in classical painters.

Me and Isa go way back and we also spend a bit of time talking about our days spent partying and making music in South East London at time when it didn't cos the earth to live there.

We also talk about the loss of Isa's father, which happened early in lockdown. She tells us what a strange experience it is to lose someone so close at such a strange time and also what big influence he has been on her creativity.

Shepherd Manyika is based in South East London and his work ranges from video to sculpture to performance and everything in-between. He has also worked in arts education for a long time and his projects tend to have a big emphasis on community.

We talk about Shepherd's progression as an artist and how music and art were something he kept separate, but are now part of the same practice. We talk about his Sound Opus series, which feature a sound system he built using and old supermarket trolley and also his collaborations with the 22A Records camp.

We also touch on our time working together at the South London Gallery and how lockdown may begin to erode the exclusivity of the gallery industry.

In this episode were joined by artist Adelaide Damoah.

Adelaide is a painter and performance artist from London and is also completely self taught. She has exhibited internationally and her work covers issues regarding race, identity and feminism.

We talk to Adelaide about her transition from the pharmaceutical industry into contemporary art and the self analytical nature of her work. We discuss her being a founding member of the Black British Female Artist Collective and how collaboration is a vital part of her practice.

We also touch on how things are improving in the art world for marginalised identities, but also how there is still a very long way to go.

Emma Cousin is a painter based in South East London - via Yorkshire - and has been part of all sorts of excellent exhibitions with all sorts of excellent galleries; as well as having a huge amount of experience working in the commercial gallery world.

Emma recently started her own podcast consisting of lockdown conversations with fellow artists and they're great so we wanted to get her on our podcast to talk about it.

As well as the podcast we talk to Emma's about her practice and the use of stretched and contorted figures in her paintings. We also talk about the Bread and Jam exhibitions she used to host from her house in Brockley and how they felt like a healthier alternative to most private views.

This time we're joined by Ben Murphy and Nick Thompson of Delphian and Gallery and artist Lucia Ferrari.

Delphian is a nomadic gallery, founded in 2017, with a focus on pioneering emerging contemporary art. Their hugely popular open call, which happens annually, has gained them a huge online following and given them the wherewithal to support the winners as well as runners up.

We talk to them about Delphian's recent Lockdown Editions, which Lucia is part of, as well as being an entry to this years open call. The editions are a series of prints, released by Delphian with, 100% of the profits going to the artists in hope they can help them through this turbulent time.

We also speak to them about how they're keeping busy during the lockdown and also what the most significant changes to there practices have been.