From Iran to Kings Cross with Artist Leili Tehrani Walker

Explicit content warning

03/29/23 • 57 min

Nowadays, Leili Tehrani Walker believes that their Persian background has only done good things for their relationship to art and food, though they didn’t always believe this was the case. Growing up, it was complicated.

From the start, it seemed for Leili that art, culture, identity and politics were related. Early memories of seeing a distinctive mural in Kings Cross about the AIDS crisis made a huge impression on them when they were young. Interestingly the mural had similarities to political graffiti in their ancestral home in Shiraz, Iran.

Growing up in red-light district ‘The Cross’ (Eora Sydney) with a mother who escaped from Iran during the Iran Iraq war, Leili found that they were living between two worlds. Like many children of the Iranian diaspora, they didn’t feel like they fit in at their white anglo school but also didn’t have a large Iranian community to connect with.

Listen out for Leili incriminating a family member’s ingenious knack for producing enormous Persian feasts in the blink of an eye. We find out their favourite artist is painter Iman Raad (who creates Iranian miniature style paintings that you can get deliciously lost in). Their favourite kitchen sound is completely original and their favourite smell is definitely not what we were expecting! For a kitchen disaster story that involves a dinner party and cat food, plus the best tip for taking the bite out of red onion you’ll have to tune in.

** This episode contains themes around mental health and depression. If you're struggling, help is available via LIFELINE, BEYOND BLUE, TRANSCEND, GENDER CENTRE and TRANSHUB **

Find us @whatartistseat on Instagram and our website www.whatartistseat.com.au

Links to Leili's work and anything else we chatted about:

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

** This episode contains themes around mental health and depression. If you're struggling, help is available via LIFELINE, BEYOND BLUE, TRANSCEND, GENDER CENTRE and TRANSHUB **

Find us @whatartistseat on Instagram and our website www.whatartistseat.com.au

Links to Leili's work and anything else we chatted about:

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Previous Episode

Musician Nick Reid believes every wooden spoon tells a story

It’s no big surprise that a kitchen utensil that looks pretty similar to a drum stick would be Nick Reid’s favourite. It is, however, pretty interesting that he derives just as much pleasure from ‘reading the history’ of the humble wooden spoon, as he does plunging it into an intuitively created curry that happens to be spicier than the deepest depths of hell.

Musician Nick Reid hasn’t been calling himself an artist for very long, despite being the drummer for the Australian indie-rock outfit Cousin Tony’s Brand New Firebird for over 5 years. It wasn’t until starting his solo project Kitsch Kitchen and diving deep into it thanks to the pandemic cancelling his band’s US South X SouthWest tour in 2020 that he began to really lean in.

**Language warning - a few spicy words are thrown around during our conversation**

Find Nick's 'Lovers Curry' recipe and more at www.whatartistseat.com.au

Follow Nick on Instagram @kitschkitchenmusic

Links to anything else we chatted about:

KITSCH KITCHEN BANDCAMP https://kitschkitchen.bandcamp.com/
COUSIN TONY’S BRAND NEW FIREBIRD https://cousintonys.bandcamp.com/
SHANNON MARTINEZ https://www.instagram.com/shannon_martinez/?hl=en
HETTY MCKINNON http://hettymckinnon.com/
ARTIST BEC SMITH https://becsmith.net/
COMPOSER PETER CORRIGAN https://www.instagram.com/petercorriganmusic/?hl=en

Find us @whatartistseat on Instagram and our website www.whatartistseat.com.au

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Next Episode

Musician Yeo wants to build a hotel out of a Malaysian dessert

You’d be forgiven for thinking that someone with a social media handle @snackswithyeo was some kind of famous chef. Whilst Yeo is pretty brilliant in the kitchen, as you’ll find as we go along, it’s music that captured him early on and remains his true love. Internationally recognised Yeo has been releasing music for over a decade, with his craft taking him across Australia and as far from home as Ecuador, the US, Canada and Singapore.

You’ll find throughout the interview that Yeo is big on DIY - in music and food. This man absolutely loves learning how to do new things and problem-solving. “My attitude is if it’s already broken, there’s no harm in breaking it further to try to make it try to work again”.

Yeo reminds us that being able to cook is a privilege, especially for those who are time poor and exhausted. He recommends the “Time to Eat” series by Nadiya Hussain on Netflix that features super quick recipes. As for his own recipes, we cannot WAIT to make his steamed fish dish and took particular note of his advice to be meticulous when you julienne the ginger and spring onions.

Yeo’s kitchen superpower is a power that we at What Artists Eat would like a LOT more of and his kitchen disaster story is a romantic pyrotechnic drama for the ages.

Find us @whatartistseat on Instagram and our website www.whatartistseat.com.au

Links to Yeo's work and anything else we chatted about:

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.