The Truth In This Art: Stories That Matter

Rob Lee
  • 4.8 (166)
  • Visual Arts
  • Updated Semiweekly

The Truth In This Art with Rob Lee is a Baltimore-based arts and culture podcast where independent journalist Rob Lee goes beyond the highlight reel to uncover the truth behind the work—the creative process, the choices, and the stories that shape the people who make it. Through thoughtful conversations with emerging and established photographers, filmmakers, designers, musicians, chefs, writers, and other creative voices, each episode explores how artists build sustainable practices, stay connected to their communities, and create work that reflects the world around them. More than interviews, these are stories about what it takes to build a creative life—the challenges, choices, and experiences that make art matter. For makers, culture lovers, and the creatively curious.

  1. 5d ago

    Dominican artist Jose Duran on Reclaiming Black Femininity Through Baroque and Rococo Opulence

    In this episode of The Truth In This Art, the guest is Jose Duran. About Jose Duran: Born in Moca, Dominican Republic, Duran is a painter, designer, and sculptor whose work constructs elaborate, opulent interiors rooted in Baroque and Rococo traditions. His practice is grounded in extensive research into survival, celebration, vengeance, sabotage, and aspirational desire within Black communities. Duran centers Black feminine figures in his compositions as a reclamation of their historically overlooked contributions to European standards of taste, and as a form of retribution for generations of forced labor under colonial rule. In the conversation, Duran discusses his early career in fashion, including time spent studying and working in Paris, as well as an MBA program in Taipei focused on the Asian luxury market. He explains his decision, at age 41, to leave the fashion industry behind and commit fully to becoming a visual artist, a shift shaped in part by a residency in Senegal that marked his entry into the art world. Duran describes the influence of his late mother, a hairstylist whose gatherings between the Bronx and the Dominican Republic shaped his early understanding of beauty, celebration, and hospitality. He also outlines his research process, including his study of the historical relationship between textiles and the transatlantic slave trade, and his investigation into love-attraction plants once used by enslaved women in the Caribbean, both of which directly inform his work. The conversation also touches on Duran's early relationship with artist Mickalene Thomas, and how that connection shaped both his confidence and his development as an artist. Follow Jose Duran on Instagram at @joseduranstudio to keep up with his work and future projects. Photo courtesy of subject. The Truth In This Art is supported by William G. Baker, Jr. Memorial Fund, the Maryland State Arts Council's Creativity Grant and Mayor's Individual Artist Award - Creative Baltimore Fund (Baltimore).  Host: Rob LeeMusic: Original music by Daniel Alexis Music with additional music from Chipzard and TeTresSeis.Production: Produced by Rob Lee & Daniel AlexisEdited by Daniel AlexisShow Notes courtesy of Rob Lee and TransistorPhotos: Rob Lee photos by Vicente Martin for The Truth In This Art and Contrarian Aquarian Media.Guest photos courtesy of the guest, unless otherwise noted.Support the podcast The Truth In This Art Podcast Fractured Atlas (Fundraising): https://www.fracturedatlas.orgThe Truth In This Art Podcast Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/thetruthinthisart.bsky.socialThe Truth In This Art Podcast Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/truthinthisart/?hl=enThe Truth In This Art Podcast Website: https://www.thetruthinthisart.com/The Truth In This Art Podcast Shop: Merch from Redbubble ★ Support this podcast ★

    Dominican artist Jose Duran on Reclaiming Black Femininity Through Baroque and Rococo Opulence

  2. Aug 4

    Dominican artist Bony Ramirez - Anchoring Caribbean Memory to Surreal, Renaissance-Inspired Figures

    In this episode of The Truth In This Art, the guest is Bony Ramirez! About Bony Ramirez: Dominican-born artist based out of Jersey City, New Jersey, working across painting, sculpture, and installation to create a vivid celebration and exploration of Dominican life and Caribbean culture. Blending European painting traditions — Renaissance and Mannerist influences drawn from church art — with distinctly Caribbean imagery, symbolism, and materials, Ramirez has built a visual language entirely his own. His elongated, exaggerated figures function almost like landscapes, each one deliberately distinct, never referencing real people but instead pulling from memory and imagination. In our conversation, Ramirez talks through moving to the United States at 13 years old and how that transition shaped both his identity and his relationship to the culture he left behind. He reflects on how being physically close to New York City's art scene, including a stretch living in Harlem, became an essential part of his growth as an artist. Ramirez discusses his responsibility to tell Caribbean stories that are still underrepresented in contemporary art, noting how many people don't even know where his island is. He gets into how his figures evolved — starting from self-taught limitations that became a stylistic signature — and why he keeps cultural markers like plantains, machetes, and crabs, along with bilingual English and Spanish titles, at the forefront of his work, refusing to let that world fade into the background. Be sure to follow Bony Ramirez on Instagram at @bonyramirezz to keep up with his work and future projects. Photo courtesy of subject. The Truth In This Art is supported by William G. Baker, Jr. Memorial Fund, the Maryland State Arts Council's Creativity Grant and Mayor's Individual Artist Award - Creative Baltimore Fund (Baltimore).  Host: Rob LeeMusic: Original music by Daniel Alexis Music with additional music from Chipzard and TeTresSeis.Production: Produced by Rob Lee & Daniel AlexisEdited by Daniel AlexisShow Notes courtesy of Rob Lee and TransistorPhotos: Rob Lee photos by Vicente Martin for The Truth In This Art and Contrarian Aquarian Media.Guest photos courtesy of the guest, unless otherwise noted.Support the podcast The Truth In This Art Podcast Fractured Atlas (Fundraising): https://www.fracturedatlas.orgThe Truth In This Art Podcast Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/thetruthinthisart.bsky.socialThe Truth In This Art Podcast Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/truthinthisart/?hl=enThe Truth In This Art Podcast Website: https://www.thetruthinthisart.com/The Truth In This Art Podcast Shop: Merch from Redbubble ★ Support this podcast ★

    Dominican artist Bony Ramirez - Anchoring Caribbean Memory to Surreal, Renaissance-Inspired Figures

  3. Jul 30

    DMV Visual Artist Khadija Jahmila Turns Reclaimed Materials Into Diasporic Storytelling

    In this episode of The Truth In This Art, the guest is Khadija Jahmila! About Khadija Jahmila: Silver Spring, Maryland–based Afro-Caribbean mixed-media artist, mother, and teaching artist working across hand-cut analog and digital collage. Her pieces pull from folklore and surrealism, layering found and donated print material onto wood panels and reclaimed metal to explore what gets carried forward and what gets left behind. Jahmila talks about the apartment building her family first lived in after settling in Maryland, and how a printed photo of that building became what she calls the "spark image" for a larger piece she made during her residency at Capitol Hill Arts Workshop. She also remembers the exact moment she started calling herself an artist: twenty-one years old, sitting on a sidewalk outside her freshman dorm, writing poetry and reading it back to herself. Good enough that she believed it. Much of the conversation circles back to material. Jahmila started out working almost exclusively with paper, building early pieces from posters she'd picked up after the People's Climate March. Residencies pushed her further, onto wood, onto salvaged street signs, into printing photographs for the first time instead of only scavenging them. She talks about surrealism as something closer to survival than style, a way the African diaspora has always reached for new realities when the old ones didn't leave room to breathe. "We are building the world we want to see," she says at one point, almost in passing. Jahmila also walks through how her relationship with Eaton DC started small, at a local pop-up market, when the hotel's program director stopped in front of one of her digital collages and asked if she'd ever thought about a show. That conversation led to her first solo exhibition, Hindsight is 2020, a piece she nearly lost when her basement flooded mid-project. She talks about salvaging what survived and finishing the work anyway, water damage and all. There's also a section on her year as Season Artist for Baltimore Center Stage, where she worked across six productions with directors and playwrights. She lights up talking about it, comparing it to designing album art—another place where her collage instincts collaborate with someone else's story. Explore Khadija Jahmila's portfolio at khadijajahmila.com/portfolio, and follow her on Instagram at @khadija.jahmila. She currently has work on view in Thresholds at Techne Fine Art in Rockville (through August 22) and SUPERIMPOSED at Pyramid Atlantic Art Center (through August 9), and will exhibit at the FEMME Art Fair at International Square August 26–30. Photo courtesy of subject. The Truth In This Art is supported by William G. Baker, Jr. Memorial Fund, the Maryland State Arts Council's Creativity Grant and Mayor's Individual Artist Award - Creative Baltimore Fund (Baltimore).  Host: Rob LeeMusic: Original music by Daniel Alexis Music with additional music from Chipzard and TeTresSeis.Production: Produced by Rob Lee & Daniel AlexisEdited by Daniel AlexisShow Notes courtesy of Rob Lee and TransistorPhotos: Rob Lee photos by Vicente Martin for The Truth In This Art and Contrarian Aquarian Media.Guest photos courtesy of the guest, unless otherwise noted.Support the podcast The Truth In This Art Podcast Fractured Atlas (Fundraising): https://www.fracturedatlas.orgThe Truth In This Art Podcast Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/thetruthinthisart.bsky.socialThe Truth In This Art Podcast Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/truthinthisart/?hl=enThe Truth In This Art Podcast Website: https://www.thetruthinthisart.com/The Truth In This Art Podcast Shop: Merch from Redbubble ★ Support this podcast ★

    DMV Visual Artist Khadija Jahmila Turns Reclaimed Materials Into Diasporic Storytelling

  4. Jul 27

    Sand Is Still Sand: DC Artist Dina AZ. Salem on Memory, Texture, and Transformation

    In this episode of The Truth In This Art, the guest is Dina AZ. Salem! About Dina AZ. Salem: Washington, DC–based abstract contemporary artist born in Alexandria, Egypt, working across painting and sculpture to create materially driven works that explore healing, transformation, memory, and resilience. Through layered surfaces, texture, and unconventional materials, her practice investigates how personal experience can be translated into visual language. She signs her work with the initials of her late father, honoring the person who first encouraged her artistic journey. In our conversation, Salem talks through growing up in Alexandria, Egypt, and how her mother discovered that painting calmed her down as a kid — leading to a lifelong artistic practice that began at four or five years old. She shares how she once applied to a shoe design school in Italy, and how her path eventually led her to Virginia Tech and, about four years ago, to Washington, DC — a journey she describes as something that "chose her" rather than the other way around. She gets into her philosophy that materials carry memory — sourcing everything from plaster to broken rock to items she comes across walking around DC and shopping at Home Depot, which she calls her happy place. Salem talks about creating her first major piece while healing from a difficult period in her life, and how she began seeing certain textures, like plaster, as visual stand-ins for scars — marks that represent surviving something rather than being defined by it. She also describes her love of physically breaking materials down and rebuilding them, finding the process both grounding and exciting. Central to her practice is a question she keeps returning to: how do we become someone new without losing who we were — using an example like sand, which can be reshaped into something entirely different while still, fundamentally, remaining sand. Be sure to follow Dina AZ. Salem on Instagram at @dinaazsalem to keep up with her work and future projects. Photo courtesy of Abdallah Sabry. The Truth In This Art is supported by William G. Baker, Jr. Memorial Fund, the Maryland State Arts Council's Creativity Grant and Mayor's Individual Artist Award - Creative Baltimore Fund (Baltimore).  Host: Rob LeeMusic: Original music by Daniel Alexis Music with additional music from Chipzard and TeTresSeis.Production: Produced by Rob Lee & Daniel AlexisEdited by Daniel AlexisShow Notes courtesy of Rob Lee and TransistorPhotos: Rob Lee photos by Vicente Martin for The Truth In This Art and Contrarian Aquarian Media.Guest photos courtesy of the guest, unless otherwise noted.Support the podcast The Truth In This Art Podcast Fractured Atlas (Fundraising): https://www.fracturedatlas.orgThe Truth In This Art Podcast Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/thetruthinthisart.bsky.socialThe Truth In This Art Podcast Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/truthinthisart/?hl=enThe Truth In This Art Podcast Website: https://www.thetruthinthisart.com/The Truth In This Art Podcast Shop: Merch from Redbubble ★ Support this podcast ★

    Sand Is Still Sand: DC Artist Dina AZ. Salem on Memory, Texture, and Transformation

  5. Jul 23

    Building Baltimore Food Culture with Charm City Table Founder Simone Phillips

    In this episode of The Truth In This Art, the guest is Simone Phillips! About Simone Phillips: Award-winning content creator and event curator behind Charm City Table, Baltimore's popular food and beverage platform with more than ten million impressions per month. She's become a trusted voice in Baltimore's culinary scene, highlighting the people, places, and stories that shape the city's food culture. She also curates vertical videos for the Maryland Film Festival and works closely with Parkway Theater. In our conversation, Phillips walks through her journey from starting Charm City Table in 2017 as a hobby to journal her dining experiences. Growing up, she didn't eat out much—Golden Corral and IHOP at church functions, but never exploring Baltimore's dining scene. After graduating college and moving back to Baltimore, she started exploring Harbor East, Fells Point, the Inner Harbor, Canton, and fell in love with all the options. That curiosity became her whole life. She shares her humanitarian approach to content creation—thinking about the restaurant owners and their feelings as creatives, but also the people spending their money who see something and get excited about visiting. We get into what it takes to build a sustainable brand voice rather than chasing virality, why Baltimore remains her intentional focal point even as she partners with national brands in New York, Chicago, and California, and what she believes is missing from Baltimore's food scene to take it to the next level: elevated service as an art form. Be sure to follow Charm City Table on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and YouTube Shorts. Photo courtesy of subject &  David Stuck.  The Truth In This Art is supported by William G. Baker, Jr. Memorial Fund, the Maryland State Arts Council's Creativity Grant and Mayor's Individual Artist Award - Creative Baltimore Fund (Baltimore).  Host: Rob LeeMusic: Original music by Daniel Alexis Music with additional music from Chipzard and TeTresSeis.Production: Produced by Rob Lee & Daniel AlexisEdited by Daniel AlexisShow Notes courtesy of Rob Lee and TransistorPhotos: Rob Lee photos by Vicente Martin for The Truth In This Art and Contrarian Aquarian Media.Guest photos courtesy of the guest, unless otherwise noted.Support the podcast The Truth In This Art Podcast Fractured Atlas (Fundraising): https://www.fracturedatlas.orgThe Truth In This Art Podcast Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/thetruthinthisart.bsky.socialThe Truth In This Art Podcast Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/truthinthisart/?hl=enThe Truth In This Art Podcast Website: https://www.thetruthinthisart.com/The Truth In This Art Podcast Shop: Merch from Redbubble ★ Support this podcast ★

    Building Baltimore Food Culture with Charm City Table Founder Simone Phillips

  6. Jul 13

    French-American Painter Louis-Antoine Gilbert on Cubism, Moebius & Art Deco

    In this episode of The Truth In This Art, the guest is Louis-Antoine Gilbert! About Louis-Antoine Gilbert: French-American painter and artist known for his acrylic on canvas works that create the illusion of depth, living in Washington, DC for nearly a decade, creating colorful acrylic cityscapes inspired by brutalist and modernist architecture, art deco design, and graphic novels by Moebius, François Schuiten, and Benoît Peeters. His cubist-influenced work draws from M.C. Escher and Wassily Kandinsky, and he's also a musician, beat maker, and painting instructor. In our conversation, Gilbert talks through growing up in Paris with parents who brought him to free museums and concerts, first wanting to be an artist at age four after seeing an orchestra, and starting with graffiti following older kids in the streets. He connects his journey from Parisian punk bands to DC's basement show scene and digs into how DC's greenery—particularly Rock Creek Park—has transformed his gray, Parisian-inspired compositions into more hopeful work with vegetation. As he puts it, discovering DC made him realize "both cities, both of them have brutalist and modern buildings in them." He recalls meeting artist Autumn Spears early in his DC years, shares stories from selling affordable original drawings at the Little DuPont flea market every six weeks, and discusses learning that French house music actually originated from Detroit. We get into the realities of teaching painting in summers, the influence of graphic novels from his dad's collection, and how nearly a decade in DC has made him rethink the art deco shapes he loved from Paris. Be sure to follow Louis-Antoine Gilbert on Instagram at @antoine_paints to keep up with his work and future projects. Photo courtesy of subject. All views expressed by Louis-Antoine Gilbert are his own and not those of the Law Library of Congress or the Library of Congress The Truth In This Art is supported by William G. Baker, Jr. Memorial Fund, the Maryland State Arts Council's Creativity Grant and Mayor's Individual Artist Award - Creative Baltimore Fund (Baltimore).  Host: Rob LeeMusic: Original music by Daniel Alexis Music with additional music from Chipzard and TeTresSeis.Production: Produced by Rob Lee & Daniel AlexisEdited by Daniel AlexisShow Notes courtesy of Rob Lee and TransistorPhotos: Rob Lee photos by Vicente Martin for The Truth In This Art and Contrarian Aquarian Media.Guest photos courtesy of the guest, unless otherwise noted.Support the podcast The Truth In This Art Podcast Fractured Atlas (Fundraising): https://www.fracturedatlas.orgThe Truth In This Art Podcast Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/thetruthinthisart.bsky.socialThe Truth In This Art Podcast Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/truthinthisart/?hl=enThe Truth In This Art Podcast Website: https://www.thetruthinthisart.com/The Truth In This Art Podcast Shop: Merch from Redbubble ★ Support this podcast ★

    French-American Painter Louis-Antoine Gilbert on Cubism, Moebius & Art Deco

  7. Jul 9

    A Revolution Called Love's Zoë Poindexter on Black Love Day, Filmmaking and Storytelling for Us

    In this episode of The Truth In This Art, the guest is Zoë Poindexter! About Zoë Poindexter: Documentary filmmaker, producer, and director based in Washington, DC. She attended journalism graduate school at Georgetown University, where she continues to work as a documentary teacher's assistant, and specializes in nonfiction storytelling. In our conversation, Poindexter walks through her journey to A Revolution Called Love, a feature documentary inspired by Black Love Day—a holiday created in DC in the nineties by Mama Ayo Handy-Kendi. After living in DC for almost ten years without ever hearing about it, she called the founder and asked to attend. She showed up in purple—the colors of Black Love Day, which happens to be her favorite color—stayed for the entire seven-hour ceremony, and came back saying, "Yes, this needs to be made into a film." The documentary is structured around the holiday's five tenets: love for the creator, love for yourself, love for family, love for community, and love for the Black diaspora. We explore how she's weaving community voices throughout—filming interviews with Black Washingtonians defining what those tenets mean to them, with select responses used as voiceover narration in the feature. She shares her commitment to telling positive stories that aren't clichés—"We have way too many clichéd stories about Black people, Black communities. I often ask myself, why do we need this again? Who is this actually being made for?" She hopes the film sparks conversation around what we think love is—a deeper dialogue about intention, community, and making work that's truly for us. This conversation came about through a shared passion for storytelling—and the belief that the stories we tell should actually be made for us. Be sure to follow the project (@blacklovedocfilm on Instagram, Black Love Documentary Film on Facebook) and visit BlackLoveDocumentary.com to learn more and support the crowdfund. Both Defining Love: Voices of Black DC (a short oral history film funded in part by Humanities DC) and A Revolution Called Love are currently in production. Photo courtesy of subject. The Truth In This Art is supported by William G. Baker, Jr. Memorial Fund, the Maryland State Arts Council's Creativity Grant and Mayor's Individual Artist Award - Creative Baltimore Fund (Baltimore).  Host: Rob LeeMusic: Original music by Daniel Alexis Music with additional music from Chipzard and TeTresSeis.Production: Produced by Rob Lee & Daniel AlexisEdited by Daniel AlexisShow Notes courtesy of Rob Lee and TransistorPhotos: Rob Lee photos by Vicente Martin for The Truth In This Art and Contrarian Aquarian Media.Guest photos courtesy of the guest, unless otherwise noted.Support the podcast The Truth In This Art Podcast Fractured Atlas (Fundraising): https://www.fracturedatlas.orgThe Truth In This Art Podcast Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/thetruthinthisart.bsky.socialThe Truth In This Art Podcast Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/truthinthisart/?hl=enThe Truth In This Art Podcast Website: https://www.thetruthinthisart.com/The Truth In This Art Podcast Shop: Merch from Redbubble ★ Support this podcast ★

    A Revolution Called Love's Zoë Poindexter on Black Love Day, Filmmaking and Storytelling for Us

  8. Jul 6

    Artist Paloma Vianey on Painting "The Most Dangerous City"

    In this episode of The Truth In This Art, the guest is Paloma Vianey! About Paloma Vianey: Interdisciplinary artist from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, now based in Washington, DC. She holds an MFA from Cornell University and has created large-scale public art installations along the US-Mexico border, with work exhibited at major museums and galleries internationally. She is primarily a painter and educator, teaching at the collegiate level. In our conversation, Vianey walks through her artistic journey from beginning to paint as a teenager when Juarez was labeled "the most dangerous city in the world," using art as catharsis during years of violence. She recounts completing a groundbreaking 72-foot-wide community-funded border bridge mural in 2018, depicting a girl blowing bubbles with each bubble representing emblematic images of Juarez including a tribute to femicide victims. We dig into her signature "Chamara" paintings—labor-intensive works where she hand-sews canvas jackets with industrial zippers over oil-painted urban landscapes of Juarez, creating what she calls "portraits of the city." One painting captured a pink house she'd see every time crossing the border—until one visit when she discovered it had been painted white. "That was a little heartbreaking for me," she shares, explaining how these works archive the changing memory of her hometown through a lens of resilience and hope. She shares insights on finding community in DC after moving six times in five years, her love for the U Street corridor (particularly Taqueria Xochi for authentic Mexican food), and how DC has been generous in giving her platforms to show her work. This conversation came about after I encountered Vianey's work at Umbrella Art Fair—a chance discovery that sparked a deeper dialogue about representation, resilience, and the power of challenging negative narratives through art. Be sure to follow Paloma Vianey (@palomavianey on Instagram) and visit palomavianey.com to keep up with her work and future projects. Her exhibition "Un Mismo Cielo Entre Washington y Juarez" is on display at the Mexican Cultural Institute in Washington, DC until July 25th. Photo courtesy of subject. The Truth In This Art is supported by William G. Baker, Jr. Memorial Fund, the Maryland State Arts Council's Creativity Grant and Mayor's Individual Artist Award - Creative Baltimore Fund (Baltimore).  Host: Rob LeeMusic: Original music by Daniel Alexis Music with additional music from Chipzard and TeTresSeis.Production: Produced by Rob Lee & Daniel AlexisEdited by Daniel AlexisShow Notes courtesy of Rob Lee and TransistorPhotos: Rob Lee photos by Vicente Martin for The Truth In This Art and Contrarian Aquarian Media.Guest photos courtesy of the guest, unless otherwise noted.Support the podcast The Truth In This Art Podcast Fractured Atlas (Fundraising): https://www.fracturedatlas.orgThe Truth In This Art Podcast Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/thetruthinthisart.bsky.socialThe Truth In This Art Podcast Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/truthinthisart/?hl=enThe Truth In This Art Podcast Website: https://www.thetruthinthisart.com/The Truth In This Art Podcast Shop: Merch from Redbubble ★ Support this podcast ★

    Artist Paloma Vianey on Painting "The Most Dangerous City"
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About

The Truth In This Art with Rob Lee is a Baltimore-based arts and culture podcast where independent journalist Rob Lee goes beyond the highlight reel to uncover the truth behind the work—the creative process, the choices, and the stories that shape the people who make it. Through thoughtful conversations with emerging and established photographers, filmmakers, designers, musicians, chefs, writers, and other creative voices, each episode explores how artists build sustainable practices, stay connected to their communities, and create work that reflects the world around them. More than interviews, these are stories about what it takes to build a creative life—the challenges, choices, and experiences that make art matter. For makers, culture lovers, and the creatively curious.

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