Iconography is a history podcast that focuses each episode on an icon, real or imagined, that has come to define a place and has been defined by that place in turn.
Iconography is for people who are fans of long-form investigations into topics we all think we know but that reveal unexpected depths when poked and prodded. I think people who enjoy what Karina Longworth does on You Must Remember This – including doing fun voices when quoting historical figures, which ummm I do as well – will be on board with Iconography, which brings the same spirit from icons ranging from The Spice Girls to Robin Hood.
I have been podcasting for over six years, first in a movie review chat-cast and then in the format I use now, long-form, scripted nonfiction. I started podcasting because something about blogging (my initial post-college pursuit) felt impermanent and incomplete. Like when it was just a very long blog post about Paddington, it always felt like I needed to go back in and add something, change something. And I could do that, but it felt wrong. Something about putting together a audio presentation – well thought-out, with clips woven in, with music – felt like it allowed me to make my definitive statement on topics I cared about. When I publish a podcast episode like the one I did on Paddington as a British icon, I always feel satisfied, like I’ve actually said my piece about that topic and I don’t need to tinker with it anymore. Sort of like I’ve distilled what’s actually in my head into something that can enter someone else’s head.
Non-podcasting hobbies include filmgoing (not like a normal amount of filmgoing but, when I’m in good form, upwards of 100 new releases a year), trivia night (I’m coming off an epic come-from-behind victory last night that still has me giddy), improv comedy, and music (I’m a singer and instrumentalist of the nerdy choral and symphonic band variety).
The one show I think everyone should get on is Accession from T.H. Ponders. It’s like if Nate Dimeo’s residency at the Metropolitan Museum of Art for Memory Palace grew legs, walked away, found a fertile piece of land in Massachusetts, and grew into a weird and wonderful meditation on how art inspires us. Some episodes are straight-up art appreciation and history, but other episodes have included a set of gorgeous love letters that track a relationship with a pointillist painting; a 30 for 30 style mockumentary inspired by an Aztec sculpture; a poem for children; and a journey to an art museum on the moon. It’s wild, moving, and impeccably produced.
As of recently, the show is in a podcast collective – Hub & Spoke, which includes other shows that I’ve been a massive fan including my favorite podcast, The Lonely Palette. I’m still reeling from this honestly, it’s a dream come true after years of podcasting without an audience or a support network. I’m still figuring out how to balance being a cheerleader for these incredible and much more well-known shows with being an active member of this team as we look to grow.
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