Documenting Failure

A podcast from Selina Thompson Limited about exploring experiments in doing things differently, thinking about access, marginalisation and what we can learn through failure from disabled artists in the UK and beyond. 

“With all of my heart, believe that the changes that we're trying to cultivate together are possible, plausible, and damn near happen. I have that level of unwavering conviction.”

Episode 3’s guests in conversation are Amahra Spence and Christopher Samuel. This is a conversation beautifully holding heavy things with a lightness, and we hope you can feel the care between our guests extended to you too. In this podcast we touch on grief, personal identity, and working / starting careers as black, disabled-led organisations and artists. 

Our host is Toni- Dee Paul - @txnidee , https://www.instagram.com/txnidee/ and this week’s guests are:

1.Amarha Spence- https://www.instagram.com/amahra_as- HoodFutures Studio
2.Christopher Samuel -https://www.instagram.com/christophersamuel_/ - @christophersamuel_


For full content warnings, a transcript of the episode, links to resources and things referenced please visit: https://selinathompsonltd.co.uk/work/documenting-failure

Don’t forget to subscribe for more wonderful content talking to disabled artists about failure, documenting our failures and failing joyfully. 

Selina Thompson Ltd is a national portfolio organisation supported by Arts Council England, using public funding from National Lottery. 

Timestamps / chapter breakdown:
Short breakdown of chapters / areas of discussion
00:03- Opening dialogue from Amahra to set the tone of the podcast
00:41- Toni Dee welcomes everyone to the podcast and introduces guests.
01:48-17:51- Toni Dee asks first question about each guests practice, where it stems from and what they are doing now. The guests each answer with their story. 
18:25- 26:05- Toni Dee asks Amahra about her relationship to failure and reframing failure while thinking about endings and closing. Amahra answers with the things she has had to create over the years, how they ended naturally and this is not necessarily failure. 
26:11-30:03- Toni Dee asks Christopher about how artistry, leadership and failure are working in his current work. Christopher talks about what failure means to him. 
30:22-35:17- Talk about how disabled people are often left out of society and so have had to build their own paths. 
35:33- 41:16- Toni Dee asks what has surprised the guest, what has been joyful pivots for them. The guests talk about realising themselves, looking internally, not running away from themselves and showing up as your whole self.
41:22-43.09
- Toni Dee asks what are you looking forward to? The guests talk about each guests talk about each others work and being able to be in the moment with each other. 
43.09- Toni Dee closes off the conversation and thanks the guests for joining the podcast.
43:30- Outro thanks to the team. 

What is Documenting Failure?

Documenting Failure: a podcast developed and produced by Selina Thompson Limited

Documenting Failure’ takes its name from a quote from Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha's book Care Work: Dreaming Disability Justice, that clearly outlines that a success rooted in Disability Justice often looks like mainstream failure. It invites artists from across the UK and beyond to reframe such failures on their own terms, and in so doing move towards new models of success, access and sustainability