Episode 1: What is Mixed Medicine?

Click to listen to the episode on RRR > [Mixed Medicine Episode 1]

Iconic television presenter, broadcaster and journalist Namila Benson was invited to be interviewed on the show but pulled a uno reverse card and interviewed me (Leah), which was honestly an absolute treat. We talked about re-imagining healing as a collective pursuit, about the ways that the invisibility of oppressive power dynamics obscures both suffering and strength. We chatted about therapy, anti-oppressive practice, legacy, stories and many other tangents. We also played some beautiful tunes kicking off with Mo’ju’s ‘Change has to Come’.

Episode 2: Namila Benson

Click to listen to the episode on RRR > [Mixed Medicine Episode 2]

Namila Benson returns in this episode as the interviewee. I had the enormous privilege of speaking with her about her career in media, the complexity of navigating institutions, responsibilities to Community and the depth and strength of belonging with bloodlines and Country. We also chatted about intergenerational legacies, what it means to live on unceded Kulin Country and the misunderstandings of intersectionality.

• See the VOX article on Intersectionality we discussed The intersectionality wars

• Follow and support Mauna Kea protector and educator, Pua Case, who we quoted saying, ‘How I stand will not be determined by what I stand against, rather who I stand for, and who I stand with’.

• Catch Namila weekly and watch the past two seasons on ART WORKS on ABC iview.

Episode 3: Jen Cloher

Click to listen to the episode on RRR > [Mixed Medicine Episode 3]

I had the incredible privilege of interviewing Jen Cloher in this episode about culture, belonging and their upcoming album Ko au te awa, Ko te awa ko au | I Am The River, The River Is Me. We discussed intergenerational love stories, the thin veil between the living and the spiritual world and we talked about the humility and reverence required when connecting or reconnecting with community. We listened to the tracks Being Human, and Mana Takatāpui from Jen’s upcoming album and their deeply moving song Watch Me Disappear from the 2009 album Hidden Hands. We talked about touring the new album with the incredible Te Hononga O Ngā Iwi kapa haka group, about Rawiri Waititi’s stunning quote “You may not know your language, but your language knows you. You may not know your mountain but your mountain knows you. You are enough because your tipuna (ancestors) made it so” and we finished with the beautiful sounds of TE KAAHU - E Hine Ē.

Episode 3: Rachel Naŋinaaq Edwardson

Click to listen to the episode on RRR > [Mixed Medicine Episode 4]

This week I spoke with my longtime mentor and colleague Rachel Naninaaq Edwardson, a film-maker, impact producer, anti-oppressive practice designer and educator, who zoomed in to the interview from Iñupiat country, Utqiaagvik, Alaska. We spoke about culture and Country and the Indigenous notion of ‘weaving ourselves together in strength as communities’ as Rachel so beautifully described. We talked about colonisation as the origin story for so much of the suffering felt by all people and the importance of navigating and healing these dynamics of domination and oppression inside ourselves. We discussed the importance of planting our feet in strength, identity, belonging and collective power, without shying away from the violent and brutal parts of our stories. We listened to and spoke about the strength-based nature of Briggs’ The Children Came Back and about the Indigenous humour and joy in Boujie Natives. We finished on the power of stories to transform our consciousness, our hearts and how we operate in the world. ‘When we tell stories of strength.. that connect us to an identity.. they are far more than entertainment, they contain knowledge and tools and power in them. When we think about things that inspire us to heal and to transform and to change things, they always come back to stories. If you’re looking to do this work yourself, start with the stories you know and then find the stories you don’t know.’

Episode 5: Tiriki Onus

Click to listen to the episode on RRR > [Mixed Medicine Episode 5]

In this episode, I had the pleasure of speaking with artist, curator, parent, scholar, researcher, opera singer, film-maker and storyteller Tiriki Onus. We spoke about the sacredness of stories and the responsibilities of passing them on through generations. We explored the idea of scholarship and education in the context of Indigenous, holistic, relational experiential approaches and the challenges and limitations of colonial notions of academia. We heard Tiriki’s reframe of privilege, celebrating Blak privilege, ‘there was this sense of always being proud…of owning where you stood, of knowing you stood on the shoulders of these extraordinary people who went before you and that you would be part of this story going into the future.. and that the reason you were standing here was because people had given up so much before you and that you owed it to them to do a little bit better each and every time.. we’re playing a long game’. We talked about the yearning that we notice in folk who might not know their place in legacy stories, those who want to know the languages, the stories and the instructions of the countries we live on.. ‘That yearning is so important, we need to have that yearning and be told that it’s alright to desire these things’. We talked about reverse assimilating into Aboriginal culture and how we might do that with respect and reverence. We listened to We have Survived - No Fixed Address and Bluegums calling me back home - Harry and Wilga Williams and heard about the significance of country music and storytelling through songs in families and communities. Finally, we spoke of deep, inevitable, responsible, robust, love filled-hope.. understanding the love and the care of those who came before, for me even to be here.. and to know the deep and profound struggles they have gone through and the sacrifices they have made.. without even knowing me.. so that I can be here having these conversations today. There’s love in that, and there’s trust ... there’s incredible trust in that, that if we do things right, that if we tell the right stories to our young people, if we’re able to help them feel that same yearning and desire and strength, that they’ll go and tell those stories again… When I’m telling these stories it’s actually impossible for me to be alone…that gives me hope, that gives me strength… and that reminds me of the genius of those who have gone before us and the genius that’s going to persist.. the strength that has continued to define our communities and of which we can all be a part.

You can watch Tiriki’s incredible film ABLAZE on ABC iview and you can learn more about the film and Tiriki’s work here and here and here.

Episode 6: Dr Jess Gannaway

Click to listen to the episode on RRR > [Mixed Medicine Episode 6]

Dr Jess Gannaway is an educator and researcher exploring relationality and cultural responsivity in the field of education. She is also an artist who experiments with slow eco-dyeing and botanical printing techniques that harness processes of rust and decay to create unpredictable patterns on fabric. In this episode, we speak about education, relationships, training teachers in anti-oppressive pedagogies and surrendering to the alchemy of decay in arts practice and in life. We discuss understandable human reactions to resisting change, struggling with uncertainty and fearing mistake-making. We spoke about the role of shame and grief as both a barrier and an entry point to connection. We talked about the importance of growing our ability to sit with the things we don’t want to feel and embracing the discomfort knowing that connection and liberation wait on the other side of these processes. I quoted Miriam Taylor from her book Deepening Trauma Practice: A Gestalt Approach to Ecology and Ethics (2021), who writes “One way of understanding power is that unbearable, uncontainable pain is displaced from one person, group or bloodline to another. An individual or marginalised group is implicitly called upon to bear the suffering that others cannot". Jess spoke beautifully about different ways of knowing and the opportunities that arise when we open ourselves to not knowing, making mistakes and learning together. We spoke about surrender, stillness and composting as a vital and underappreciated part of a healthy eco-system. You can learn more about Jess’ art here and research and writing here.