The Wellcome Collection Podcast

In the final episode of our podcast, Bidisha takes us on a journey through the highest of highs, from nightclubbing and the ecstasies of religion and drugs, to mania.

Artist Harold Offeh shares his personal take on the connections between movement, music and bodies.

Annie Macmanus (‘DJ Annie Mac’) speaks about the power of nightclubbing, how ecstasy and dance music go hand in hand and how she has managed to maintain her sense of euphoria and delight over the last couple of years.

From taking MDMA in the 80s to the work of a religious professional, the vicar, musician and radio presenter Richard Coles reflects on his adventures with both chemical and religious ecstasy.

Philosopher Jules Evans and drug science expert David Nutt talk about how people have sought to lose control throughout history, and how psychedelics are being trialled to relieve hard-to-treat cases of depression.

Finally, Bidisha asks, can you have too much of a good thing? Psychologist and writer Kay Redfield Jamison talks about her patients’—and her own—experiences of mania as part of bipolar disorder.

Presented by Bidisha Produced by Debbie Kilbride Sound design by Micky Curling Music by Sola Researched by Priya Jay Executive producer Emily Wiles

When was the last time you felt utterly tranquil?

Moya Lothian-McLean searches for an oasis of calm, taking Wellcome Collection’s ‘Tranquillity’ exhibition as a point of inspiration.

She visits St Bartholomew’s Hospital to experience the installation ‘Regarding Forests’ by Chrystel Lebas. Hear tips from staff and visitors as they share how they find a moment of peace in the middle of a bustling hospital.

Moya speaks with three young people from RawMinds, Fawaz Sajid, Malika Sandover and Tahmina Sayfi and they talk about whether phones can ever help us to find calm in our busy, modern lives.

Brain injury survivor and gardener Keith Emmanuel and environmental psychologist Dr Eleanor Ratcliffe talk with Moya about the importance of being in nature for our health and wellbeing. They meet in the garden at Homerton Hospital Mothers and Babies Ward where Keith volunteers.

Even if you can’t escape to a green oasis, you have the right to rest wherever you are. Artist Rhiannon Armstrong has created a meditation to help you do just that. The meditation is part of a larger work called Public Selfcare System, shaped by Rhiannon’s lived experience as a disabled artist with chronic debilitating conditions that mean she has become an expert at resting in public.

Presented by Moya Lothian-McLean

Produced by Debbie Kilbride

Sound design by Micky Curling

Music by Sola

Executive producer Emily Wiles

Meditation by Rhiannon Armstrong

@mlothianmclean @HeadwayELondon @el_ratcliffe @armstrongtactic

Gardens are hugely personal, they are an extension of how we see ourselves and how we are in the world. They can also be a strong reminder of what is excluded as much as what is included. In this episode JC asks, what does the Garden reveal about the way we relate to the natural world and to each other?

Writer and grower Claire Ratinon explores colonial legacies in the garden, through our use of language and readiness to embrace and celebrate some plants, whilst excluding others.

We visit the Bethnal Green Nature Reserve, where artist and urban farmer, Michael Smythe showcases the uses of common so-called weeds like ribwort plantain and yarrow in locally produced remedies. Wilma Bol, a social prescriber at a local GP surgery, highlights the relationship between this urban nature reserve and the local community, when it comes to communal health.

The gardening activist, Tayshan Hayden-Smith, reflects on the image of horticulture today, and shares his introduction into guerilla gardening, in the aftermath of the Grenfell Tower fire.

Presented by JC Niala

Produced by Alannah Chance and Mae-Li Evans

Music and sound design by Alice Boyd

Artwork by Faye Heller

The Root of the Matter is a Reduced Listening production for Wellcome Collection.

You can find the transcript for this episode, and more, on the Wellcome Collection website using this link:

https://wellcomecollection.org/series/YsQLZxEAACAAWQ4J

Fruit and veg are a clear link to our relationship to the plant world. Yet many of us have little understanding of the farming industry and the impacts it has on our planet, in bringing crops to our plates.In this episode, JC untangles the knots of these complex global food systems - and focuses on a grain that is central to many of our diets, wheat.

Professor of Archeological Science, Martin Jones, shares how our early ancestors began to cultivate crops, and why crops may have begun to cultivate us too. Author and environmental activist George Monbiot sheds light on the impacts and fragility of the modern farming industry, its implications for our global food networks, and the changes that need to happen to make it more sustainable.We meet Iain Tolhurst, a farmer in Oxfordshire whose organic agricultural methods may provide a potential solution for how we might better manage our farmland.

Presented by JC Niala

Lead Produced by Alannah Chance

Produced by Mae-Li Evans

Music and sound design by Alice Boyd

Artwork by Faye Heller

The Root of the Matter is a Reduced Listening production for Wellcome Collection.

You can find the full transcript for this episode, and much more, on the Wellcome Collection website: The Root of the Matter | Wellcome Collection

In Wellcome Collection’s new series, ‘The Root of the Matter’, we join JC Niala on a journey to understand how plants can provide a lens on human health, history and belonging.