The Earth Sea Love Podcast

Episode 066 - Be Okay In The Process with Sile Sibanda

Hello and Welcome Back, to the Earth Sea Love Podcast, with your host Dr Sheree Mack and special guest Sile Sibanda.
Recorded back in February 2024, Dr Mack muses on how everything happens in good time. Editing this episode in June, Dr Mack realises she needed to listen to this episode again. To revisit and re-engage once more with what flowed throughout this conversation as the wisdom and insight were on point then as is now.
In this episode you will listen to Dr Mack and Sile, radio presenter,  talking about:
* The concept of time
* Circular living with the seasons
* The Rasheedah Phillips' reading mentioned
* The Joy of Sharing Knowledge
* Situating ourselves with artificial plants
* Fitting in creativity around different jobs
* Colouring in and play as a practice
* BNIR programme with identity on tyne 
* Connecting with nature as a child in Zimbabwe
* Connecting with nature in the UK
* Femininity and Nature
* Belonging in Nature
* Is the British countryside racist?
* Not Black and White, either/ or but and/both
* The BNIR Zine is here for free if you want it
* Writing in Nature
 
 
Bio: Sile Sibanda is a Spoken Word Performer, BBC Radio Presenter, Events Host Creative Producer/facilitator and amateur dj. She has been involved in creative and community projects for over 12 years starting with a glee club at the age of 12 and speaking at the House of Lords. Recently, she hosted a conversation with former Sheffield Lord Mayor Magid Magid for the off the shelf Festival and Munroe Bergdorf for Shefest. Created a short film about belonging as part of the Migration Matters Festival. Sile became a creative producer for Storytrails, creating an immersive storytelling experience about untold stories of people living in Sheffield. Had a debut dj set at tramlines fringe and facilitates creative writing workshop for primary school and community groups.  
 
Let’s connect
 
@silesibanda –  on all social media platforms
 
W silesibanda.com
 
For BBC content sile.sibanda@bbc.co.uk
Listen to my shows on BBC Sounds
 
Nominate the person in your community making a difference
[bbc.co.uk/makeadifference]
 

Episode 065 - Exhaling Within Kinship with Charlotte Holmes

Welcome back. As promised, we're trying to keep The Earth Sea Love Podcast regular, every two weeks. So here we {BE}.
Your host Dr Sheree Mack is super excited to be talking with Charlotte Holmes, who pregnant at the time, met Sheree through their work with the Race Equity Network within the National Trust and Black History Month 2023.
Within this episode, Sheree and Charlotte enjoys a conversation around:
* Sharing their happy news around pregnancy and motherhood
* Situating themselves in places and home
* Sharing who they {Be} and what they do
* Connecting with nature and the land on their own terms
* Education and career taking them away from their true selves
* Exhaling within the kinship of Race Equity Network for the National Trust
* Is the British countryside racist or not?
* Witnessing People of the Global Majority taking up space in the countryside
* Being visible enjoying nature
*Accessing nature on our own terms with our ancestors
* Museums and objects and changes
 
Bio: Charlotte Holmes, Curator and Assistant Director Engagement. Working part-time as Associate Director of Engagement for Birmingham Museums Trust and part-time Cultural  Heritage Curator at the National Trust. Charlotte's passion and professional goals centre on connecting people with their histories and equipping people with the skills they need to fulfil their potential. She has excellent communication and research skills, which have allowed her to lead practice in a range of heritage settings. Charlotte frequently speaks at professional conferences, and facilitate workshops and public events. She loves what she does, and brings both emotion and intellect to her work, which includes exhibition interpretation, public events, and workshop and meeting facilitation.
LinkedIn
Birmingham Museums

Episode 064 - Choosing The Freedom to Rest with Juanita Valture

Hello and Welcome back to The Earth Sea Love Podcast.
It's been a hot minute since we've shared one of our awesome conversations. But we're back now with your host Dr. Sheree Mack, getting over the mental and emotional and psychological blocks she created herself around the podcast and YouTube to bring you the podcast in its original form. The voices of inspiring women, feminine and non-binary people who are Black, Indigenous or a Person of Colour and their connection with Mother Nature.
 
In this episode, Sheree has a conversation with Juanita Valture, is a South African born, Bristol based Creative Studio Manager, amateur potter and volunteer hike leader.
In this episode they all about:
* Stepping away from employment to rest
* Retreating from 'life' in order to find space and rest
* Recognising that things need to change instead of staying in the same loop
* Taking the leap and trusting that the universe will provide
* Trusting and Intuition
*Leaning into the belief in abundance rather than scarcity
*Creativity and Sustainability and Regenerative 
* Making small changes in our day to day lives
* Creating a Race Equity Network within the National Trust 
* Research into racism in rural settings could be retraumatising for volunteers
* Rhiane Fatinikun MBE, Creator of Black Girls Hike UK
* Diversifying Mountain Leadership within the UK
* Rest is active
* Mindful Pottery and moments within nature to {BE}
 
Bio: Juanita Valture is a South African born, Bristol based Creative Studio Manager, amateur potter and volunteer hike leader.Her love of the outdoors began from an early age, but her time working at the National Trust was where she discovered a profound connection with nature; and taking on the role as co-chair of the Race Equity Network allowed her to delve into the intersection of sustainability and creativity, advocating for inclusivity and representation in outdoor spaces. Recognising the disparities in access, safety and representation, particularly within Black spaces, Juanita has dedicated herself to fostering change by volunteering as a hike leader with Black Girls Hike, striving to create a safe space for Black women to connect and explore the beauty of nature. Juanita aims to become a qualified mountain leader to address the lack of representation in outdoor leadership, as currently there are only two Black female mountain leaders in the UK. Her hope is that this will pave the way for others and champion diversity in outdoor leadership. 
 
LinkedIn 
Black Girls Hike UK

063 - The Palimpsest Episode

Hello again and welcome to the Earth Sea Love Podcast.
Episode 063 is a special episode being released in connection to the walkshops we completed in 2023 with a number of groups of the global majority with the help of funding from the Northumberland National Park Communities Fund. Northumberland National Park Communities Fund was a grant scheme set up for communities within the North-East of England to create projects that supported and contributed to the National Parks remit of being designated for everyone. This grant helped us in supporting the Northumberland National Park's purpose of  becoming more welcoming to more and different people.
 
Within this episode, your host, Dr. Sheree Mack talks about:
* her love affair with the concept of Palimpsest
* the different definitions and meanings of the term Palimpsest
* how the practice of Palimpsest turns up in her creative practice
* how Palimpsest was used within walkshops in Northumberland National Park
* what the participants of the walkshops have to say about their connection to nature.
 
 
Music within this episode is Melatonin Dub by Jangwa from Free Music Archive

062-The Earth Sea Love Podcast Coming To YouTube

Episode 062, ending season 5.
This is a recent episode recorded by your host, Dr Sheree Mack while walking the North-East coast and taking you along with her.
While filling her creative pot, Sheree shares the road ahead for the podcast with season 6 in 2024.
As the Earth Sea Love Podcast diversifies its guests, while  partnering with identity on tyne with their Black Nature in Residence Programme 2:0, they also thought it might be a good idea to broaden the audience through a Youtube channel. 
Here at Earth Sea Love CIC , they are just trying to tie everything in with the podcast, the zine, the website and the YouTube channel. Let's see how it goes but they're excited.
In this episode, Sheree walks and talks about eating out there and giving herself the gift of time and space. Not working to any agenda and changing up perspectives so she can work within a system which is beneficial for her wholeness. 

061 - Black Nature Walking The Way - Dr. Sheree Mack

Hello and Welcome back to a special episode of The Earth Sea Love Podcast.
Your host, Dr. Sheree Mack, is recoding this episode out on location while walking The West Highland Way. A 96 mile hike from the lowlands to the highlands of Scotland, running through some of the most breathtaking, iconic and remote parts of Scotland, this is a life-changing long distance hike, which is Sheree's third attempt at completing. 
During this episode, you'll hear Sheree talking through the wind and rain about:
* the walk and the stages she's walking
* what is happening with the podcast for the rest of the year
* what is happening with the podcast in 2024
* what her dreams are concerning walking
* what it's like to walk the way and what it means to Sheree
* looking for diversity on the trails
* collaborating with identity on tyne with their new project
* the Black Nature in Residence programme
 
The call out details for the Black Nature in Residence programme which will see 5 creatives of the global majority in 5 Northern National Parks can be found here. The closing date for applications is 31st October 2023. 
For images of the Way, please check out the Earth Sea Love website for this episode. 

060 - Introduction to Permaculture Design - A Mini Series

Hello and Welcome Back to The Earth Sea Love Podcast.
Dr Sheree Mack, your host here. 
I'll not lie. The promise I made at the beginning of 2023 of dropping at least one episode each month of the podcast was in the balance this month. July. A time I love to tie up loose end, retreat and rest. Call it the teacher in me, as I'm someone from time who loves to take the summer holidays off the clock. This year is no exception, except that I've just moved house and needed a rest more than ever.
So this episode has been on the back burner. Knowing it's something I wanted to do, and promised to do, didn't help the process of getting it done.
But finally it is here. I needed to get out of my head and just get into my body to produce it. I needed to get out of my way and just talk from the heart about my current learning. Permaculture Design.
So I started a Permaculture Design Certificate course with Liz Postlethwaite this spring. It will take me a year to complete and along the way, I'm learning a lot of new things about regenerative systems and how to apply this to my practice and creative projects.
I am just about getting into it now, after a slow, tentative, reluctant start as I discuss within this episode. I've been experiencing a fair about of conflict and tension about Permaculture and Permaculture Design basically because of its roots and their acknowledgment. 
So within this beginning episode of a mini series around Permaculture Design, I discuss:
* the difference between Permaculture and Permaculture Design
* the purpose of Permaculture Design
* the ethics and principles of Permaculture Design
* the creation of the terms and concepts of Permaculture Design
* the indigenous roots of Permaculture Design
* the roots of my conflict and tensions with Permaculture Design
* what to expect in the forthcoming episodes of the mini-series. 
 
Keep an eye out on The Earth Sea Love Zine over on substack for more thinking and discussions around the issues raised and practices learnt throughout this mini series as well as the Permaculture Design Certificate course as a whole. 
 

059-We All Already Belong With Mindy Tsonas

Happy June
Soon the Summer Solstice will be amongst us, here in the Northern Hemisphere, so let us take this moment from The Earth Sea Love Podcast to wish you LIGHT!
And thank you for coming back for a listen to our next episode. 
We are so proud that we are continuing to bring you, our listeners, beautiful and thought-provoking episodes which we hope inspire and support your healing and creative journeys. 
This episode your host, Dr Sheree Mack is talking with Mindy Tsonas, a maker and creator of spaces where healing and radical change are welcome. 
In this episode the conversation explores:
* place in nature
* {BEING} is a changing thing
* the magic of seeds
* how we must put ourselves in the way of belonging
* how we all already belong
* dismantling the stories that we don't belong
* taking inspiration and wisdom from nature
* our interconnectedness
* self care is community care
* radicale and radical - the root of it all
* generative practices and systems
* creativity and nature
* co-creation and community
* giving indigenous practices and wisdom their proper respect and recognition. 
 
Bio: Mindy Tsonas is a maker, manyeo and cultural organizer who facilitates circles of creativity, collective belonging and care. She believes in using art and alchemy as mediums for generative connection, somatic healing and radical change. As a transracial, transnational adopted person from the South Korean diaspora, this deeply informs her embodied perspective on land and lineage throughout all of her work and organizing.Links:
Mindy's Website: witchcraftivism.com
Instagram: @mindytsonaschoi
Patreon: Community, Art and practices https://www.patreon.com/mindytsonaschoi
Substack: Writing & Stories https://mindytsonaschoi.substack.com/ (should be up by the time this airs)
Collective Belonging: @collectivebelonging  collectivebelonging.com
 

058 - Developing An Ancestral Healing Practice With Catherine Lucktaylor

Hey there!Hope you are well and welcome back to The Earth Sea Love Podcast. We’re so happy that you’ve decided to spend some time with us again.We’re so happy to welcome back to the podcast, Catherine Lucktaylor.
Catherine was a guest back in December 2020 in episode 20, when she talked about her ceramics practice, Raku ceramics and being inspired by the wild Cornish coast.
In this episode Catherine is talking with your host, Dr Sheree Mack about:
* Being inspired by the sea within our art practice* Appreciating nature and the wild Cornish landscape* The project that came out of the Developing Your Creative Practice grant* A new body of work - Mothers of the Moon* A local exhibition with grief ritual ceremony, Newlands Art Gallery* Ancestral Healing of the Self
* Claiming Space within the Landscape
* Adinkra symbols wisdom and energies* Becoming an Ancestral Practitioner* Listening to the ancestors and what that can mean and look like* Working within the community with the youth* Future Offerings from Catherine
 
Bio:
Catherine Lucktaylor is an artist and healer based in west Cornwall, UK. She has over 30 years’ experience in art and spiritual practices. She specialises in Raku fired ceramics and creates sacred spaces for ritual and healing. Catherine incorporates her Ghanaian/West African and British/Celtic heritage within her work, combined with her love of nature and connection with nature spirits.
Catherine is currently training as an Ancestral Healing Practitioner with Daniel Foor and Ancestral Medicine and will be offering Ancestral Healing sessions soon. You can sign up to the waitlist here: https://mailchi.mp/71177b699ffd/sankofaprintable
and receive a beautiful Adinkra Symbol colouring page as a welcome gift. 
Find out more about Catherine’s Raku ceramics on her website www.lucktaylorceramics.co.uk
 
Here's a link to Ancestral Medicine website:
https://ancestralmedicine.org
Here’s a link to Kesoberi CIC: https://www.kesobericic.org
www.lucktaylorceramics.co.uk
Facebook: @lucktaylorceramics
Instagram: @lucktaylorceramics

057 - Feel good, safe and loved with Lateisha Davine Lovelace-Hanson

May is here and full of the joys of Spring.
Here at The Earth Sea Love Podcast, we're full of joy to bring you this conversation with the wonderful Lateisha Davine Lovelace-Hanson. 
Lateisha is a Black queer feminist interdisciplinary artist and social-justice practitioner/community-healing organiser of Jamaican heritage based in London. 
Within this episode with your host Dr. Sheree Mack, Lateisha talks about:
* focusing on how we feel instead of what we want
* water connections and healings
* community land trusts 
* listening and asking questions
* who do you be instead of what do you do?
* creating healing spaces for community
* having the purpose of staying alive
* trauma living in the body 
* being in right relationship with ourselves and nature
* revolution and liberation = community
* rest and safety
* grieving and nature
* our ancestors' relationships to water and the land and recognising 
* making spaces for joy and play in nature
* how we repair and heal what colonialism has done and been doing
* bringing our words into the word takes time and creative fugitivity
* doing the work to unshame self
* burn out can teach us many things
* "we're gonna be alright!" x
 
Bio:
Lateisha Davine Lovelace-Hanson is a Black queer feminist interdisciplinary artist and social-justice practitioner/community-healing organiser of Jamaican heritage based in London. Their writing, art-making, facilitation, consultancy and nature-work practices are tools to creatively embody knowledges that interrupt ongoing systems of colonial-imperial oppression(s), in order to activate spaces for deep healing. In their practice they meditate + dream upon what it means to be well?
To connect, belong and love freely. 
Their transformative lived experiences of gender, race, class, survivorship, neurodivergence and illness inform their offerings and approaches - being drawn to the revolutionary possibilities of sci-fi / eco-futurism, magic + ritual + ceremony and communal gathering-archiving as ancestral pathways and political strategies to reimagine resistance and remember revolutionary possibilities for the new world in creation. 
Lateisha is currently working on their debut poetry pamphlet, ~the heart is a holding~  supported by Rotterdam residences: International Collaborative Urban art projects  / Foundation B.a.d and published by Burning Eye Books Autumn 2023. They are also developing their interdisciplinary performance - installation work s/he breathe/s,  supported by Raze Collective, Stanley Arts and Arts Council England showing in Summer 2023. You can also visit their current work Meeting At The Altar Of Us, a collaborative text and sound work offering as part of Bloom Collective's contributions to Meera Shakti Osborne's department of Unruly histories archive and exhibition at Cubitt in spring 2023. 
Previous work includes An Offering // an installation of a world-building, to come- back to home…  weaving poetry-film, sound, documentary, text, and plant medicine portals. Commissioned residency and exhibition by Bethlem Gallery: An Ecology Of Mind (2022). Lateisha has written extensively through residencies and commissions, including  Camden Art Centre: The Botanical Mind, Wretched Of The Earth (BIPOC climate justice collective), [Performance space]: PSX 10, Live Art Development Agency, Artsadmin: Apocalypse Reading Room curated by Ama Josephine Budge, Chelsea Physic Garden: Queer Botany, Apples & Snakes, She Grrrowls, Dada Fest / Yewande 103 and is a Roundhouse and Hammer & Tongue Poetry Slam Finalist. 
Lateisha facilitates community-healing workshops and activity-based immersive installations across art, education and community spaces. Including, Queer Youth Art Collective, Healing Justice Ldn and Colours LGBTIQIA+ youth arts as well as institutions incl. Migration museum, Barbican and Autograph. They founded TO THE RITUAL KNOWLEDGE OF REMEMBERING - that took shape as an immersive 3 day coastal retreat supported by LADA, and online public-programme as part of 12o collective’s curator residency (2020-2021).
You can connect with Lateisha here @lateisha_davine or pop down to Hackney City Farm where they are training as a Beekeeper 🐝---