The Wellcome Collection Podcast - The Root of the Matter: Trailer

The Root of the Matter: Trailer

07/14/22 • 1 min

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.

Previous Episode

Hello Happiness: Ecstasy

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

Next Episode

The Root of the Matter: The Garden

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