The Documentary Podcast

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In the Studio: Abhishek Singh May 06, 2024

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Indian artist Abhishek Singh’s comic books have sold more than half a million copies and been translated into Italian, Spanish, French and English. His interpretation of the Indian myth, Krishna: A Journey Within, was the first graphic novel by an Indian writer and artist to be published in American comic book history. Abhishek has long included environmental themes in his work, but after travelling round the mountains and forests of India, and spending time with elephants in particular, he realised that most mythic tales concern kings and queens and battles, all about humans and human activity. He decided it was time to create a new non-human mythology, one which centres on our vulnerable environment and the animals who live within it. Paul Waters joins him in Delhi as he paints one of his pictures for his new graphic novel The Hymns of Medhini.

The Fifth Floor: Love and politics in Russia May 04, 2024

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Nataliya Zotova of BBC Russian tells us how Yulia Navalnaya has stepped in for her husband since his death and how there is somewhat of a precedent for this in Russia. Plus Ikechukwu Kalu explains how the BBC Igbo social media team use proverbs to connect with their audience.

Produced by Caroline Ferguson and Alice Gioia

(Photo: Faranak Amidi. Credit: Tricia Yourkevich)

BBC OS Conversations: Student protests in the US May 04, 2024

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The war in Gaza has triggered demonstrations at dozens of universities thousands of miles away in the United States. There have been hundreds of arrests as police have gone in to break them up and remove the protest camps that have been set up. Amid the heightened tensions, three Jewish students with different views towards Israel and its government, share their experience on campus and the impact on their studies.. We also hear from protesters at two Ivy League universities in the US, Colombia and Harvard. One describes witnessing the police raids. They explain their motivation for being part of the protest and reflect on whether their actions might have possible repercussions in the future.

Heart and Soul: Jewish dating May 03, 2024

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Dating in the Jewish world can be a struggle - different denominations, beliefs, being Kosher or not Kosher, ideologies and geography makes navigating this world difficult to decode. Amie Liebowitz talks to matchmaker and dating coach Aleeza Ben Shalom from Netflix's Jewish Matchmaker and goes on her own quest to learn about the traditional and religious values of matchmaking.

South Africa: The people shall govern May 02, 2024

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South Africa is marking 30 years of democracy this year, reflecting on the remarkable transition from apartheid that captivated the world. While some South Africans are celebrating, others are questioning whether the promises of democracy have delivered. The BBC’s Nomsa Maseko embarks on a personal journey, starting from the polling station she accompanied her mother to in April 1994, to meet the people who fought for South Africa’s freedom, built its democratic institutions, and are seeking to improve their own lives today. She asks all of them: what does 30 years of democracy mean to you?

Bonus: Lives Less Ordinary May 01, 2024

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A bonus episode from the Lives Less Ordinary podcast. Evy Mages grew up in and out of foster care in 1970s and 80s Austria. But even when she started a new life in the US, she was haunted by traumatic memories of a strange yellow house high up in the Alps, where she had been placed as an eight-year-old. It took an idle internet search in her 50s to reveal that this was actually an institution called a 'Kinderbeobachtungsstation', or 'child-observation station', where vulnerable children were experimented on by a psychologist using shocking methods. She decided to step back into her past to uncover the full, disturbing truth of what happened there. Evy's story first appeared in the New Yorker in 2023. Presenter: India Rakusen Producer: Edgar Maddicott Editor: Rebecca Vincent Get in touch: outlook@bbc.com or WhatsApp +44 330 678 2707

For more extraordinary personal stories from around the world, go to bbcworldservice.com/liveslessordinary or search for Live Less Ordinary wherever you get your BBC podcasts.

Assignment: Kosovo - euro or bust? Apr 30, 2024

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It's a quarter of a century since Kosovo emerged from a brutal war, one which pitted local ethnic Albanians against Serbs. Twenty-five years on, the government in Pristina is pressing ahead with reforms that could reinforce its separation from Serbia. They include banning the use of Serb dinars and curbing the import of things like Serb medicines. Pristina says the moves are needed to curb illegality and tax-evasion. But they have brought widespread complaints from local Serbs who feel victimised. Is the government justified in claiming there is a rising risk of violence, or are the restrictions themselves making this more likely?

In the Studio: Kenyan artist Wangari Mathenge Apr 29, 2024

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Wangari Mathenge used to be a high-flying corporate lawyer before turning to her first love of art. She likes to express herself through her colourful palette and figurative paintings, exploring her African culture, identity and past. More recently she has turned to immersive installation.

For this In The Studio, arts journalist Anna Bailey follows Wangari as she creates her second immersive experience at the Pippy Houldsworth Gallery. It’s a life-sized replica of her Nairobi studio and this is where she invited 20 female domestic workers to have a day of rest, while also painting large-scale portraits of them for a new series of work which celebrates female domestic workers in Kenya.

Wangari also invites listeners into her Chicago studio, where she is working on the next painting in the series. But as Anna finds out, rest is not only important to the workers but to Wangari herself.

Presenter and producer Anna Bailey Executive producer Andrea Kidd.

The Cultural Frontline: Exposing the fake Russian modern art collection Apr 28, 2024

Show notes

Over the past twenty years, paintings from a private collection of Russian and Ukrainian modern art have been sold to museums and private collectors around the world. Paintings were sold for hundreds of thousands of pounds from the Zaks collection, as it’s known. It was said to include over 200 oil paintings of some of the most treasured Russian and Ukrainian avant-garde artists, including those by El Lissitzky, Exter, Goncharova and Popova, putting it among the largest in the world. This has caught the eye of three art detectives and the BBC’s Grigor Atanesian follows them, along with forensic experts, to discover more about the collection, what’s been happening and if the paintings are real or worthless fakes.

The Fifth Floor: The disinformation wars Apr 27, 2024

Show notes

How is disinformation created and spread, and how is it impacting the way journalists work? We'll look at what's going on in Latin America, Russia and Nigeria with the help of three World Service journalists: Luis Fajardo is a senior editor with BBC Monitoring, covering South American media; Olga Robinson, also with Monitoring, is a disinformation analyst specialised in Russian affairs; and Olaronke Alo is part of the Disinformation Unit in Nigeria.

Produced by Alice Gioia and Caroline Ferguson

(Photo: Faranak Amidi. Credit: Tricia Yourkevich)

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