brave podcast

brave Projects
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brave podcast is an audio series spotlighting bold voices in the arts. Through intimate conversations each episode explores the ideas, challenges, and dreams shaping creative practice today.

  1. JAN 5

    Jonny Tanna: Harlesden High Street, Building Community Through Art

    Jonny Tanna is the founder of Harlesden High Street, a gallery rooted in northwest London that centres artists of colour, outsider practices, and community engagement. He explains how the space grew organically from film nights and curatorial experiments into a platform designed to welcome people who are often excluded from the contemporary art world. Throughout the conversation with brave podcast host and arts editor, Victoria Comstock-Kershaw, Jonny challenges the dominance of the white cube, the decline of traditional art fairs, and the narrow collector base that many galleries rely on. He argues for broader cultural engagement, drawing from music, film, and counterculture, and speaks about Minor Attractions as an alternative fair model that prioritises social exchange, experimentation, and atmosphere. The episode explores how outsider artists are supported at Harlesden High Street, including Jonny’s approach to curation, performance, and installation. He shares stories that highlight how everyday encounters, local communities, and unconventional narratives shape the gallery’s programme. Jonny also reflects on sincerity in the art world, warning against the performative use of terms like community and accessibility. He emphasises that galleries are ultimately people-driven spaces and that treating artists and audiences with respect is essential for long-term sustainability. The conversation closes with future plans for Harlesden High Street, including archival-focused projects, exhibitions exploring music history and cultural shifts, and Jonny’s ongoing commitment to building platforms that prioritise cultural value over commercial posturing.

    1h 4m

  2. 12/22/2025

    James Marshall: Access, Confidence and Communication

    Curator, writer and founder of communications agency The Inventive, James Marshall joins Victoria Comstock-Kershaw for a new brave podcast episode to talk about access, class and confidence in the art world, and how he built a career without the usual pathways. Growing up in rural Scotland with little access to museums or galleries, James shares how arriving in London at 17 reshaped his relationship to art, and why he decided to create his own opportunities rather than accept unpaid labour as the entry fee. Throughout the episode, James breaks down the power dynamics behind internships and early career roles, and explains how bringing a clear skill set to the table can shift the balance. From learning social media on the fly to building The Inventive, he reflects on the reality that experience does not pay rent, and why paid apprenticeships and properly funded routes into the sector are overdue. The conversation also explores language, communication and the performance of the gallery ecosystem, and why contemporary art needs fewer barriers and less art speak. James and Victoria discuss accessibility in exhibitions, the value of wall texts, and how formats like Minor Attractions can help audiences connect with work beyond the white cube. James also shares what is next, including plans for a group show exploring queer relationships with intimacy, and a full circle moment working with Simone Brewster on a commissioned installation film at the Design Museum.

    50 min

  3. 12/08/2025

    Eva Dixon: Fearlessness

    Artist Eva Dixon joins Victoria Comstock-Kershaw for a new brave podcast episode to unpack the ideas behind, ‘Mercury 13’, Eva’s exhibition inspired by the women who secretly qualified for astronaut training in the 1960s. Eva shares how their overlooked history, especially the story of Wally Funk, shaped the direction of the show. Throughout the podcast, Eva talks about her approach to materials, sourcing firehoses, discarded objects and community donations to build sculptures that feel alive, improvised and full of tension. Eva’s process blends invention with instinct, letting found materials guide her into new narratives. The conversation also dives into joy as resistance, the problems with the tortured-artist myth and the importance of community, reciprocity and care. Eva is currently exhibiting work at Work In Progress with her solo exhibition ‘Mercury 13’, and at Rose Easton as part of the group show ‘Abigail’s Party’.

    49 min

  4. 11/26/2025

    Esther Gatón x anteroom: Vowels

    Host Victoria Comstock-Kershaw sits down with artist Esther Gatón at her exhibition Vowels, with anteroom for an episode of brave podcast. Together, they explore the deep relationship between material, process, and intuition that underpins Esther's practice. The conversation moves through ideas of repetition, dreams, care, natural light, and the emotional intelligence of materials. Esther reflects on working across different cities, collaborating with friends, balancing artistic labour with discipline, and the importance of forging one's own path without self-censorship. Esther speaks about her working process, including her transition from sculpture to graphite drawings. She offers insight into her handmade bioplastic sculptures and explains how humidity, geography, and low-tech methods influence their final form. Victoria and Esther also discuss audience interpretation, fluid mechanics, and the quiet, mysterious ways artworks build connections across generations and contexts. The episode concludes with a look ahead to Esther's forthcoming six-month museum exhibition at Patio Herreriano in Spain. A special thank you to Flavia Nespatti, co-founder of anteroom.

    38 min

  5. 11/17/2025

    Elizabeth Dimitroff: A Boy Falling Out of the Sky

    London-based painter Elizabeth Dimitroff joins brave host Victoria Comstock-Kershaw for a rich and thoughtful conversation recorded on the eve of A Boy Falling Out of the Sky at Soho Revue. Elizabeth traces her unexpected journey from studying furniture design at the Rhode Island School of Design to rediscovering painting in her mid-twenties, reflecting on how memory, nostalgia, and a quiet surrealism shape her figurative worlds. As the co-founder of God Save the Scene, Elizabeth brings a unique perspective on community and the shifting culture of London’s art scene. She shares grounded advice on residencies, building a sustainable studio practice, finding support systems, and navigating the early years after art school. The conversation unfolds with honesty, humour, and a refreshing openness that resonates long after it ends. A special thank you to the team at Soho Revue.

    23 min

  6. 11/03/2025

    Anna Pakosz: Long Takes

    In this episode, artist Anna Pakosz joins host Victoria Constock-Kershaw to discuss how her journey from Hungary to the UK, beginning with the Tracey Emin Artist Residency in Margate, shaped her evolving practice. Anna reflects on how movement, gesture, and material experimentation, from dance to rust and blackboard paint, converge in her work to explore presence, rhythm, and transformation. Pakosz opens up about finding her voice in London’s fast-paced art scene, the shift from structured environments to artistic independence, and the balance between control and surrender in her creative process. Pakosz also shares insights on her debut solo exhibition Long Takes at Deák Erika Galéria in Budapest, and her plans for future residencies in warmer places. A conversation about process, vulnerability, and trust, in materials, in the body, and in the unknown.

    32 min

  7. 10/20/2025

    Will Jarvis: Shaping a More Equitable Art Ecosystem

    In the first episode of season two of the brave podcast, hosted by Victoria Comstock-Kershaw, Will Jarvis, founder and CEO of Gertude, reflects on his journey from painter to art world innovator. After studying painting at Camberwell College of Arts, Jarvis co-founded The Sunday Painter, marking his entry into the art industry. Throughout the conversation, Jarvis explores multiple layers of the art ecosystem, from artists and collectors to galleries and the wider market structures that shape them. With Gertude, he is redefining industry standards by championing transparency and empowering artists to sell their works directly through the app, introducing a new model for visibility and sustainability within the arts. Jarvis’s insights highlight a shift towards greater accessibility and openness in the art world, as Gertude bridges the gap between artists and audiences while encouraging a more direct, equitable exchange of creativity and value.

    29 min

  8. 09/08/2025

    Viktoryia Dijk

    In this episode, Belarusian-born multidisciplinary artist Viktoryia S. Dijk reflects on her journey in conversation with Kildine de Saint Hilaire. Viktoryia traces her path from early studies in Belarus to pursuing graphic design in The Hague, and more recently completing her MA in Fine Art at the Royal College of Art in London. She shares how her practice evolved from classical training in figure drawing towards large-scale, process-driven canvases that dissolve the human form into colour, energy, and presence. Her work combines layers of pigment, animal glue, and water, creating paintings that feel both anatomical and abstract, alive with their own inner force. She speaks candidly about navigating self-criticism, the liberating turning point she experienced at the RCA, and the ongoing question of when a work is truly finished. Viktoryia also discusses growing up in Belarus, the influence of her upbringing and family, and her deep connection to the London art scene, which she describes as a place of belonging and creative energy. For her, creativity is not only a practice but a way of living, a continual process of understanding oneself.

    50 min
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About

brave podcast is an audio series spotlighting bold voices in the arts. Through intimate conversations each episode explores the ideas, challenges, and dreams shaping creative practice today.

Information

  • Creator
    brave Projects
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    14
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © brave Projects
  • Show Website
    brave podcast