Free Thinking

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Free Thinking: Fashion, Art and the Body

Fashion, Art and the Body

BBC Radio 4 - Free Thinking, Fashion, Art and the Body

Olivia Laing, Charlie Porter and Ekow Eshun join Shahidha Bari.

Today's conversation ranges from the life of Wilhelm Reich and ideas about sexual liberation to the fashion statements made by artists and seen in the Accra photos of James Barnor.

Wearing denim, workwear or sharp tailoring makes a statement about how we think of ourselves. Charlie Porter has been exploring the relationship between artists and clothes. He joins writer Olivia Laing and Ekow Eshun for a conversation about clothing, bodies and our expression of our sexuality hosted by Shahidha Bari. 

Olivia Laing's latest book is called Everybody: A Book about Freedom
Charlie Porter has published What Artists Wear. A former Turner prize judge, he writes and curates and is a visiting lecturer on Fashion at the University of Westminster.
British-Ghanaian photographer James Barnor's work is on show at the Serpentine Gallery in London from 19th May - 22nd October 2021. 
Ekow Eshun has curated An Infinity of Traces which runs at the Lisson Gallery in London from 13 April – 5 June 2021 featuring UK-based established and emerging Black artists whose work explores notions of race, history, being and belonging.  
Jade Montserrat, one of the artists featured in Ekow's show talked to Free Thinking in the programme we made about collage and Dada https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000k9ws 

Producer: Emma Wallace

You can find more conversations in the Free Thinking archive and available to download as Arts & Ideas podcasts including 
Olivia Laing on her novel inspired by Kathy Acker and a discussion of Alison Bechdel's Fun Home https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0b7mryz
The body past and present discussed by painter Chantal Joffe, historian Catherine Fletcher and philosopher Heather Widdows https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0b7my7k 
Fashion stories in museums with guests including V&A curator Claire Wilcox   https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000s2by 
JJ Bola, Derek Owusu and Ben Lerner on The changing image of masculinity  https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000b0mx
How do we build a new masculinity ? Sunil Gupta, CN Lester, Tom Shakespeare and Alona Pardo https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000gm6h
The politics of fashion and drag with Scrumbly Koldewyn and a report from the Royal Vauxhall Tavern  https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09zcjch


Image Credit: Getty Images/Jonathan Knowles

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