VoiceFest Peer Leader Claire, our Instagram Live legend has a new project called ‘The Labeller’. A podcast series which will feature various people who are considered to be under a particular label. The discussions will cover various topics in regards to activism, identity and the labels we attach to these! This project is part of the larger VoiceFest program.
Who runs this podcast?
Oh hey! My name is Claire (they/them) and I am your faithful host of The Labeller Podcast. I will be hosting the conversations this Season. When I’m not working on the labeller, you may find me throwing together Looks & finding ways to push qtipoc to the (what?) front.
So what is this Podcast about?
The Labeller Podcast is where we will be taking back the labelling gun and re-evaluating what’s inside. We will be talking about what certain labels mean to us, and investigating how we relate to them. This pilot season of episodes will be looking at the label “Activist”.
What will the Episodes be like?
The episodes will run in an interview-like fashion with speakers from all sorts of activism practices.
Cool! Who are the Guest Speakers?
We’ll be chucking up a bio for the guest speakers on the podcast here periodically, so keep this space bookmarked!
Korra
Kia Ora I’m Korra (she/they), and I’m a Māori and Moriori whakawāhine. I’ve have been advocating for TGNB youth since I was 13 and have had to navigate through legal barriers and discrimination to blossom into the person I am today. I’ve been creating events with a local LGBTQIA+ youth group since I transitioned, and some of those events were, the first Rainbow Summit in my local area and Dance the Rainbow. I also helped create training videos like The Rainbow Film Project and Youth Against Risky Drinking Campaign. Over the past two years, I have started to reconnect with my culture and Whānau in Aotearoa. As I reconnect more with my culture, I realise how much more colonisation took from us and so many other Indigenous cultures, which makes me want to fight harder for our community. Outside of my work, I’m obsessed with video games, makeup, and sociology.
Korra is featured in episode 2 !
Lucy
Lucy (she/her) is a third year social work student with a background in queer youth volunteer work. When she’s not attempting to study in quarantine she can be found struggling to decide between hair colours, missing all her beautiful queer pals and gushing over Cate Blanchett. Lucy loves big chunky platforms, industrial metal and empowering queer youth.
Lucy is featured in episode 3 !
Wadi
Corstorphan (He/Him) is a 19-year-old Waanyi Brotherboy from the Gulf carpenteria but is now based in Geelong, Victoria on Waddarung country. Through his work with Strong Brother Strong Sister (SBSS), an indigenous youth lead organization that provides youth mentoring and culturally safe spaces for indigenous young people; Wadi dedicates his time working, advocating, and creating spaces for LGBT+ Indigenous
youth; This eventually led him to co-facilitating the first-ever online LGBT+ first nations youth group, at the start of 2020, and now he and his colleagues are in the works to continue said youth group into 2021. Wadi is very passionate about first nations’ culture and history, especially through the introspective lens of a queer perspective and how these intersectional identities collide. He believes in the importance of passing on and upholding these integral conversations about queer indigenous identities; Feeling strongly about the prominence and significance that representation plays in young peoples’ lives, especially marginalized youth.
Wadi is featured in episode 4!
Naomi Sepiso is an artist that focuses on the journeys taken by PoC youth and their predecessors. She has performed poetry as part of Melbourne Fringe “Assimilate”, at events curated by Soul Alphabet and the The African Collective in Perth WA and also Djs under the alia
s Sepsaay. She is a black woman born to parents from Kenya and Zambia and raised in Botswana. As a result her experience has been exclusively Pan-African which has led to a big focus on all African and Bla(c)k issues, first and fore mostly within my local community then throughout the world. Sepiso believes information and education are the most important tools for disempowering and consequently dismantling the system that Indigenous and settler PoC are subjected to in the colonial state.
Episodes:
Have a look at the episodes released so far ! In each episode you’ll meet a new person with their own perspectives on the topic of ‘activism’,
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Episode 1- Acti-what? Welcome to the first episode of The Labeller Podcast! In this episode, Claire (they/them) talks about the dictionary definitions of the label of the season- activist. They start to unpack and asks questions about how we consider who an activist and wonders what who we would expect when we think about activists here in so-called Australia. What do you think? Who are your favourite activists and why? And… are you an activist? Let us know over at our Instagram @voicefest.thedrum.
CLICK HERE for the episode transcription
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Episode 2 – Korra & Youth Activism Content Warning: This episode contains explicit language. We would also like to give a content warning for mentions of suicide, death threats and transphobic violence. Please listen and engage safely. Welcome back to the Labeller Podcast, the podcast where we take back the label gun, look at the labels inside and talk about why they’re there and how we feel about them. This season, we are looking at the label of activist. So buckle up! And let’s get labelling. Big thanks again to Korra for sharing her experiences with us at The Labeller. If you would like to see more of Korra’s work, you can find her on Instagram here.
CLICK HERE for the episode transcription |
Episode 3 – Lucy & Social Work Content Warning: This episode discusses institutional harm. Please listen safely. This episode contains explicit language! This episode, Claire (they/them) talks to Lucy (she/her), a social work student who uses any and every height of chunky platforms to empower queer youth. In this episode, Claire and Lucy discuss the importance of feeling angry, how social work and activism work together, and the importance of smaller acts of activism. Instagram: @femmegothgf TikTok: @femmegothgf
CLICK HERE for the episode transcription |
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Episode 4: Wadi & Community Activism Content Warning: This episode mentions anti-Semitism, racism and transphobia. Please listen safely. This episode contains explicit language! This episode, Claire (they/them) talks to Wadi (he/him), a mentor over at Strong Brother Strong Sister, an organisation that aims to nurture Indigenous youth. In this episode, Claire and Wadi discuss how activism is vital to survival, the notion of “woke points” and being critical about the information you receive. This week, we want to ask you about what community activism feels like? The biggest thank you to Wadi again for having these conversations here at the Labeller! If you would like to see more of what Wadi does, you can find more of his work here: Strong Brother Strong Sister: Activists and resources mentioned in this episode:
CLICK HERE for the episode transcription |
Episode 5: Sepsi & Activism in DJing This episode contains explicit language! Please listen safely. This episode, Claire (they/them) talks to Sepsi (she/her), a Leo DJ whose sets feature only Black artists, and aim to create a narrative for you to boogie to on the dfloor. In this episode, Claire and Sepsi discuss activism in DJing, the power of community and why we need more autonomous spaces. This week, we want to ask you what your dream event looks like and feels like? Let us know over on our Instagram! The biggest thank you to Sepsi again for having these conversations here at the Labeller! If you would like to see more of Sepsi’s work, you can find more of her work here: |
Thats our first season of The Labeller Podcast! We would like to give the biggest thank you to all of our guests on this season: Korra, Lucy, Wadi and Sepsi. Thank you for your knowledge, time and discussions. Thank you also to everyone who listened in to The Labeller Podcast. We appreciate all of you so much!
If there was a second season of The Labeller, what label should we look into next? Tell us over on our form on our website!
Would you, or do you know someone who would, like to be a part of The Labeller? Send us a message over on our Instagram!
VoiceFest would like to acknowledge that we work on the land of Wurundjeri people. The Labeller Podcast episodes are hosted and recorded on the land of Ngunnawal country. We would like to pay our respects to Elders past, present and emerging. This always was, and always will be, Aboriginal land.
All episodes are available through these platforms :
Check them out!
