100th Episode Artivist Series Podcast - Pam Ferris-Olson
About Women Mind the Water
Wo(men) Mind the Water has produced 100 episodes. In this time, the Artivist Series talked with guests from across the globe. Guests speak about their connection with water, particularly the ocean, and how their work relates to this connection. The podcasts are meant to entertain our audience and inspire them to take action to protect one of our most valuable resources – the ocean.
From First Interviews to 100 Global Stories
Pam talks about her earliest experiences making the Wo(men) Mind the Water Artivist Series podcast including some of the problems she encountered. In the beginning Pam was too shy to show her face on the podcast. She is grateful that guests agreed to appear. In one instance she forgot to record the interview and was embarrassed to have to reschedule in order to retape it. Because of Covid, virtual meeting became an acceptable to conduct interviews. This made it possible for Pam to speak with guests across the globe. She has talked to guests on every continent including Antarctica. In this episode, Pam revisits guests she’s talked to on each of the continents and discusses how she has persevered through 100 podcasts.
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00:00:03 Today on the Wo(men0 Mind the Water Art of a Series podcast on WomenMindTheWater.com, we're celebrating our 100th episode. That's right, Wo(men) Mind the Water has produced 100 episodes. In this time, the Artivist Series has spoken with guests from across the globe.
00:00:21 Guests have spoken about their connection with water, particularly the ocean, and how their work relates to this connection. The podcast we created is a way to entertain you, our audience, and inspire you to take action to protect one of our most valuable resources, the ocean. You know that roughly half of the oxygen on Earth comes from the ocean. You also must know that the ocean plays crucial roles in the global economy and global ecosystem. It yields food, energy, minerals, transportation, and much more.
00:00:57 My name is Pam Ferris-Olson. I am the founder of Women Mind the Water. I'm also the producer and host of the Women Mind the Water Artivist Series podcast. As this is our 100th episode, I'd like to share highlights and stories from the first 100. While there's a good deal of work that goes into producing the podcast, I feel the effort has been worth it. I admit that sometimes I experience frustration. In making one episode, and thankfully it has been only one, the interview wasn't recorded. It was a frustrating occurrence and embarrassing to admit to the guests why we needed to record the podcast again. In spite of setbacks, I've persevered, and now I've reached 100 episodes.
00:01:44 My motivation? I wanted to build a community. The podcast format seemed the best way for me to celebrate the work being done on behalf of the ocean. It was a way for me to explore the many ways each of us can and does make a difference, a positive difference.
00:02:04 So welcome to the Women Mind the Water Artivist Series. For those who have watched the podcast since the beginning, and yes, there is a video version of this podcast that is in addition to the audio-only version. Those who watch the podcast on YouTube or on womenmindthewater.com know that in those early episodes, I didn't appear on the video. I'm embarrassed to admit this, but I was uncomfortable being in front of the camera. In addition, I was new to video podcasting. I wasn't sure how to edit a recording with more than one person on the screen. This means that my early guests were the only face that appeared in the video. You would hear my voice but not see my face. Instead, the text of the questions I was asking appeared on the screen. My face was replaced by the Wo(men) Mind the Water logo, a heart containing water and three droplets.
00:03:02 I'm incredibly grateful that people accepted my invitation to be on the podcast. I don't know if the guests were aware that I was an inexperienced podcast maker. One of my early guests was Karen Romano Young, a woman who has been an artist in residence on several scientific trips to Antarctica and to the bottom of the ocean in a mini-sub. Karen uses her artistic talents to illustrate her experiences. I admire Karen for what she does and am amazed that she made time to be on a podcast with a host unable to muster the courage to show her face on the podcast.
00:03:44 It's hard to believe that today, the podcast has actually reached a milestone, 100 episodes. The earliest episodes date back to 2021. That was a strange and sometimes scary time. Thanks, COVID. You may remember COVID made personal distancing a requirement. As a result, virtual meetings became the acceptable way to do business. Virtual meetings made it possible for me to conduct long distance interviews. As for my guests, they only needed a computer or a smartphone and about 40 minutes to talk.
00:04:22 As a result, I've spoken to guests living and working on every continent. I don't think it would've been possible for me to successfully do this without Zoom. And as I said, I have interviewed guests on every continent. Karen Romano Young isn't the only guest I've spoken to who has spent time in Antarctica.
00:04:43 Cake artist Rose McAdoo has done at least three stints there, including one during the winter. During her stays, as well as in other polar regions, Rose creates amazing edible sculptures. At the National Science Foundation's McMurdo Station in Antarctica, Rose created a seven-cake series about her residency.
00:05:08 From the continent of Europe, I've spoken with a growing list of guests, many based in the Netherlands. Maria Westerbos, the founder of the Plastic Soup Foundation, is one of them. Maria's work addresses the environmental and health consequences of plastic pollution. Another guest, Angèl Etundi-Esamba, is a Cameroonian-born photographer who now lives in the Netherlands. Angèl and I talked about her photographic series titled Women of Water. It's a series exploring the women of Ganvie, a lake village in the Benin Republic of West Africa.
00:05:48 On the Asian continent, I've spoken with Nina Azzahra who lives in Indonesia. Born in 2007, Nina is among the youngest guests I've talked with. She may be young, but she already has an impressive body of work. Nina stepped onto the world stage speaking at the Plastic Health Summit. At that summit, Nina demanded that the world stop using Indonesia as the end point for their waste streams.
00:06:17 Of course, I've spoken to many guests from North America, including Violet Sage Walker, who carried her father's vision for their ancestral home to a successful conclusion. Her work resulted in the designation of the Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary, the 17th National Marine Sanctuary to be designated in the U.S. The work of Violet and countless others will provide protection to significant natural, cultural, and historic resources and bring new opportunities for research and community engagement.
00:06:52 The podcast has touched South America and Africa with guests like Brazilian-American Manuela Zoninsen, who founded Kadea, a company with a mission to tackle the single-use bottle problem.
00:07:07 With Dianna Cohen, a visual artist and co-founder of the nonprofit Plastic Pollution Coalition, there were a number of problems. First, there were audio troubles. After several frustrating minutes, it turned out I had forgotten to check the microphone settings. As I was still new to podcasting, I hadn't yet understood the importance of technical run-throughs before connecting with the guests. The technical difficulties left me flustered, so much so that I couldn't say her name correctly. Although it is spelled D-I-A-N-N-A, her name is pronounced Deanna. I still am embarrassed about my rookie mistakes, and I'm grateful to Dianna for her patience. You can bet that these days I spend time before each interview checking the audio and visual settings prior to the podcast, and I ask guests how to pronounce their names.
00:08:03 Podcasting, to do it well, takes a lot of work, especially if you produce both an audio and a video version like I do. There's a long list of things I do before a podcast is ready to post. It isn't as simple as calling up a guest, recording the conversation, and then posting it on the Internet.
00:08:23 It begins with me researching the guests. I use the information I get from them and online to write a draft script. A draft script consists of an introduction and sample questions. I look at the podcast as a collaborative process, so I send the draft script to the guests for their comments. This assures that I get my information correctly and hopefully puts my guests at ease by letting them know what we'll be discussing. It gives the guest a chance to think about what they want to say. This makes the podcast easier to listen to because the guest isn't searching for what to say. Having a draft also makes it easier for me because before an interview, you practice reading the script. I edit it to improve the flow of the questions and eliminate tongue twisters.
00:09:14 Once the interview has been recorded, the work switches to the editing phase. The music is added and the audio portion is edited to make it easier to listen to and keep the length of the show to about 20 minutes. With video podcasts, I insert photos and videos that support the conversation and in that way make it visually more interesting than just two people talking.
00:09:40 When the podcast is finished and processed, there's a work of posting the podcast on the Women Mind the Water website. And then, of course, there is more work posting the podcast on YouTube, iTunes, and various social media sites.
00:09:55 Bottom line, there's a lot of time-consuming detail that goes into making a podcast. I think it's worth it, I hope you, the audience, thinks it's worth it, too.
00:10:07 We all can play an important role in protecting our planet. We need to find a way that works for us. For me, the answer has been Wo(men) Mind the Water and the Wo(men) Mind the Water Artivist Series podcast. I believe it is here that I tell the stories that need to be told to share what is being done by creative people to safeguard our free planet.
00:10:29 To those who supported this podcast from the beginning, I want to send a big thank you. And to those who have only recently discovered the Wo(men) Mind the Water Artivist Series, I say welcome. I hope you like what we do and will become regular listeners.
00:10:46 And now I'd like to remind you that this is the 100th episode of the Wo(men) Mind the Water Artivist Series podcast. The series can be viewed on womenmindthewater.com and YouTube. A transcript is available on womenmindthewater.com, and an audio-only version can be listened to on iTunes and Spotify.
00:11:08 Wo(men) Mind the Water is grateful to Jaine Rice for the use of her song, Women of Water. All rights for the Wo(men) Mind the Water name and logo belong to Pam Ferris-Olson. This is Pam Ferris-Olson.
00:00:24 Pam Ferris-Olson Today on the Wo(men) Mind the Water Artivist Series podcast on womenmindthewater.com, I'm speaking with Patrizia Zolano. Patrizia is a photographer who lives in Italy near the Adriatic Sea. On this podcast, we will focus on her series Acqua Alta a Venezia (High Water in Venice). It's a series inspired by the 2019 flood that caused great damage in Venice. Patrizia's photos of waterlogged books is a reminder that beautiful things can arise from adversity.
00:01:00 Pam Ferris-Olson Patrizia Zolano is the latest guest on the Wo(men) Mind the Water Artivist Series podcast on womenmindthewater.com. The podcast engages artists in conversation about their work and explores their connection with the water. Through their stories, Wo(men) Mind the Water hopes to inspire and encourage action to protect water and all the creatures that depend on it.
00:01:26 Pam Ferris-Olson I am most pleased to welcome Patrizia Zolano to the Wo(men) Mind the Water Artivist Series podcast. Patrizia is an acclaimed Italian photographer. Her work invites viewers to look beyond the immediacy of the image. Her photographic series of books transformed by the 2019 flood of Venice depicts both destruction and transformation.
00:01:51 Welcome, Patricia. I guess I say, ‘Ciao.’ While your work focuses on more than water, natural light is a unifying feature in your photographs. I'm grateful that you joined me on the Wo(men) Mind the Water Artivist Series podcast to tell us something about yourself, Italy, and your work.
00:02:12 Pam Ferris-Olson While your work extends beyond the Acqua Alta a Venizia (High Water in Venice) series, I hope that you don't mind if we focus on that work as it speaks volumes about your photographic eye, as well as water and climate change. Let's begin by talking about Italy.
00:02:33 I don't know how many of our listeners have visited Italy, so I think it would be good if we began by having you tell us something about Italy. What fascinated you growing up in northern Italy near Lake Garda?
00:02:47 Patrizia Zelano Italians are often called a people of navigators, perhaps because the sea living without us, teaching us movement, nostalgia and the return, the endless search for horizon. Italy lives through the sea, a place where light meets water, and beauty with art architecture become an endless journey.
00:03:21 Pam Ferris-Olson Were you always focused on the detail of things or did that come when you took up photography?
00:03:30 Patrizia Zelano My attention to the detail has grown up with me. Photography came into my life like a sudden revelation. Photography gives me the freedom to explore the themes that truly move me and my own rhythm. It's a young form of art but its meanings are much deeper and more intellectual than people often think.
00:03:56 Pam Ferris-Olson I was surprised to discover that Venice is actually not a single place but a group of 118 islands lying in the bay of the Adriatic Sea. Water must be a constant threat to everything in Venice. How did you decide which books to take?
00:04:15 Patrizia Zelano The choice was not rational. I just saved what I could. Every book, no matter what it was about, felt important to me. I don't make any distinction. Each one carried its own wisdom. I chose to focus on books because they hold memory, knowledge, faith, and ideals.
Our culture is built on what is breathing in them. The book itself is a powerful symbol. During the flood, the books became a living image of our fragility of both environmental and cultural collapse.
00:05:10 Patrizia Zelano In my studio, under natural light, the books turned into sculptural objects. They reminded me of still life paintings from the 17th and 19th century, and also some contemporary artists. They were no longer damaged things but relics full of meaning. I could feel their tragic beauty, their power to evoke. Each wrinkled page looking like a relic, like an inner landscape. Through them, I created a kind of journey through art history, from ancient times to the contemporary world.
00:05:54 Patrizia Zelano The books were indeed very delicate because of the water damage and they tore easily. That fragility definitely caused some challenges but it also made the process of saving and transforming them into photographs even more meaningful. And actually, with all those damaged covers, spines, and pages that I heard story in truth.
00:06:29 Pam Ferris-Olson They were indeed beautiful. I was struck by the lighting and this sculptural elegance of what most people would just throw out. So thank you so much for doing that.
00:06:46 Patrizia Zelano Oh, good, thank you.
00:06:48 Pam Ferris-Olson So Italy is surrounded on three sides by water. Like Venice, Italy faces many challenges related to tides, storms, and plastic pollution. In your series Plastica Animistica, it appears life has been breathed into plastic material. How is this series meant to engage us in a conversation about the changing world?
00:07:12 Patrizia Zelano Yes, absolutely. Both the series are born from the same awareness that everything is in transformation in nature and within ourselves. In High Water [in Venice], I witnessed the power of water, overwhelming memory and beauty. In series Plastica Animistica I face another kind of turbulence, the wind and the fragile lightness of plastic, a material that belongs to our contemporary condition. Through this ephemeral installation, I try to transform what disturbed me into something contemplative, almost sacred.
00:07:58 Patrizia Zelano Both projects open a conversation about change, about how the stability of the world is also shaping the way we see, feel, and understand reality. I want to make it clear that Plastica Animistica is not a praise of plastic. It is rather an attempt to transcend an element I don't love, the wind, through a symbolic and poetic act.
00:08:33 Patrizia Zelano The installation I created with the light plastic becomes a ritual gesture of dialogue with nature, which is a concept in my work. Through art, I try to transform what is uncomfortable or unsettling into something that can become at least acceptable, even beautiful for a moment.
00:09:03 Pam Ferris-Olson Patricia, as we approach the end of the podcast, I thought you might offer advice on how to create an impactful photograph. If someone wanted to use their cell phone to make a statement about the environment, how do you suggest they go about creating an image?
00:09:21 Patrizia Zelano The power of a photographer, the photograph, doesn't lie in a technique but in the gaze. Even with the phone, if you look with awareness, you can create an image that transforms. We don't need to take beautiful photographs. We need to take meaningful ones. It is the act of seeing, not in the device that reveals a good shot.
00:09:52 Pam Ferris-Olson Thank you Patricia for being on the Wo(men) Mind the Water podcast. I'm really grateful that you're here in spite of your accident and the time you took, because you felt your English was not very good, to write the answers and read them for us. I will post a transcript so people can read if they have any questions.
00:10:15 Pam Ferris-Olson It has really been a pleasure to talk with you. I urge everyone to view the video version of this podcast to see a few of your photographs. You will be amazed how something that people might otherwise discard has actually become a thing of beauty and makes you think about antiquity and change and maybe hopefully influence you in the way that you see disasters or what might be viewed as a disaster.
00:10:49 Pam Ferris-Olson I will post the address of Patricia's site at womenmindthewater.com so you can investigate Patricia and her work more closely.
00:10:58 Patrizia Zelano Pam, thank you for the invitation and for this thoughtful conversation.
I hope it inspired the reflection and awareness and maybe also a trip to Italy. Bye. Thank you.
00:11:18 Pam Ferris-Olson I'd like to remind listeners that I've been speaking with Patrizia Zolano, an Italian photographer. Her series of photographs of waterlogged books goes beyond a portrait of damaged goods, and it is an engaging reminder that grace can rise from adversary.
00:11:36 Pam Ferris-Olson Patrizia is the latest guest on the Wo(men) Mind the Water Artivist Series podcast. The series can be viewed on womenmindthewater.com and on YouTube.
