🎙️ Welcome to Ep. #71 of The Urbanaut Podcast, presented in collaboration with Urbanautica.com. In this compelling episode, we welcome Canadian photographer and educator Kate Schneider, whose emotionally resonant work explores the deep ties between land, memory, and identity. From the protest camps of the American Midwest to intimate still lifes of ancient rocks, Kate’s evolving visual language challenges traditional documentary practice and embraces poetic, sensory experience.

About Our Guest: Kate Schneider

Kate Schneider is an artist of settler ancestry living in Tkaronto (Toronto), deeply rooted in the ecology and history of the Great Lakes region. With a background in both photojournalism and fine art, her practice traverses multiple disciplines, from long-form documentary to deeply personal and experimental photographic works. Kate's recent series—How to Understand a Rock, We, the Heartland, and Landscapes of Resistance—meditate on protest, place, and the unspoken emotional geographies that shape our relationships with the non-human world. Her work has been widely exhibited across North America and published internationally. She also teaches photography at OCAD University in Toronto.

Tune in to this episode to:

• Discover how neurodivergence shaped Kate’s entry into photography and her pursuit of mindfulness through image-making.
• Explore the intersection of activism and artistic ethics through her documentation of the Keystone XL pipeline and Standing Rock protests.
• Learn how a transition from traditional documentary led Kate to create more introspective, poetic works involving geology, animacy, and memory.
• Understand her personal connection to land, and why questions of “home” and “belonging” are central to her creative inquiry.

EPISODE LINKS:

Kate’s Website: www.kateschneider.net
Kate’s Instagram: @kateschneider

OUTLINE:

0:00 – Coming Up…

2:18 – Welcome and Personal Roots

6:48 – Photography as Neurodivergent Expression

12:45 – Education and Early Influences

18:33 – Art vs. Journalism Identity Struggles

26:49 – Land, Identity, and Emotional Geography

34:18 – Conceptual Foundations and Motivations

43:10 – Pipeline Resistance: We, the Heartland

49:49 – Protest Camps and Landscapes of Resistance

57:00 – Existential Crisis and Activist Ethics

1:09:27 – Visualizing Home and Temporary Structures

1:18:45 – Post-2017 Artistic Recalibration

1:23:04 – Geology, Objects, and Intimacy

1:32:20 – Photography as Visual Poetics

1:38:18 – Artistic Legacy and Personal Growth

2:02:18 – Closing Reflections and Looking Ahead

SOCIAL:

Twitter: /UrbanautPodcast

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Support on Patreon: /TheUrbanautPodcast

#KateSchneider #TheUrbanautPodcast #Photography #EnvironmentalArt #Geopoetics #ActivismThroughArt #NeurodivergentCreativity #ContemporaryPhotography #ArtandEcology #VisualPoetics #urbanautica #stevebisson #PatrickLeeHubbard

🎙️ Welcome to Ep. #70 of The Urbanaut Podcast, presented in collaboration with Urbanautica.com. In this compelling episode, we journey into the richly layered world of Iranian artist-photographer Alireza Malekian. From early experiments in visual communication to his long-term project Defamiliarizing Iran, Alireza invites us to question what a photograph can be—and how it shapes, and is shaped by, the landscapes and cultures it captures.

About Our Guest: Alireza Malekian

Born in Mashhad, Iran, and based in Tehran, Alireza Malekian is a visual artist, researcher, and writer whose work interrogates the intersection of urban environment, cultural identity, and photographic language. A graduate in Illustration with deep roots in graphic design and poetry, Alireza has become known for his conceptual approach to photography—merging experimental technique with documentary intention. His work explores the psychological and political layers of place, often transforming everyday cityscapes into complex visual inquiries. Through projects like Defamiliarizing Iranand Phantom Tehran, he challenges both Western perceptions and internal cultural clichés.

Tune in to this episode to:

- Explore how personal history, displacement, and memory influence visual storytelling.

- Learn about Defamiliarizing Iran, a powerful long-term series that blends manipulation, ambiguity, and visual sequencing.

- Discover how photography can become a tool for both civic engagement and existential reflection.

- Understand Alireza’s deep commitment to honesty, representation, and the evolving role of the artist.

EPISODE LINKS:

Alireza’s Website: www.alirezamalekian.com | Instagram: @alireza.malekian

CHAPTERS

0:00 – Coming Up...

2:15 – Welcome & Recording from Iran

3:08 – Alireza’s Background and Artistic Roots

5:33 – Graphic Design, Poetry, and Early Experiments

7:04 – Why Photography Became His Medium

10:10 – Photography as a Way to Explore Urban Life

12:25 – Learning Through Books, Not Institutions

16:06 – Childhood, Memory, and Attraction to Landscapes

18:33 – Developing a Personal Voice and Artistic Questioning

22:22 – Challenging Stereotypes and Defamiliarizing Iran

25:55 – Artistic Influences: Persian Miniatures to Kiarostami

30:23 – Creating Early Series and Methodical Approaches

38:00 – Photography as a Tool for Belonging

40:41 – The Philosophy and Process Behind Defamiliarizing Iran

52:12 – On Visual Ethics and Representing Truthfully

1:06:42 – Grief and Transformation in Bleed, Despair, Solas

1:16:27 – Long-term Narratives in As I Walked Within

1:24:45 – New Work: Phantom Tehran and Cultural Complexity

1:44:49 – Becoming Participant vs. Observer

1:53:24 – Advice on Artistic Growth and Taking Criticism

Don’t forget to:

- Subscribe for more deep dives into the world of photography and visual culture.
- Like this episode to support our mission of thoughtful art dialogue.
- Share with anyone passionate about photography, culture, or documentary work.

SOCIAL:

Twitter: /UrbanautPodcast
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#AlirezaMalekian #TheUrbanautPodcast #Photography #IranianArt #VisualCulture #DefamiliarizingIran #UrbanPhotography #ExpandedPhotography #ArtTheory #urbanautica #PatrickLeeHubbard #SteveBisson

🎙️ Welcome to Ep. #69 of The Urbanaut Podcast, presented in collaboration with Urbanautica.com. In this compelling episode, we sit down with German-American artist Gesche Würfel, whose interdisciplinary work spans photography, urban planning, and visual sociology. Her projects explore the architecture of memory, historical trauma, and environmental change through experimental, research-based image-making.

About Our Guest: Gesche Würfel

Gesche Würfel is a New York-based visual artist known for her analog and concept-driven photography that investigates the socio-political dimensions of space—whether in forests affected by climate change, architecture tied to slavery and Nazism, or the lingering divisions of post-Wall Berlin.

Her work has been exhibited at Tate Modern, Künstlerhaus Bethanien, David Zwirner, International Center of Photography, and many others. She's a recipient of grants from DAAD, the Puffin Foundation, and the North Carolina Arts Council, and her work has been featured in The New York Times, The Guardian, and WIRED.

In this episode, we discuss her major projects:

- Discover how Gesche Würfel retraced the full length of the Berlin Wall to explore the invisible psychological borders that still divide Germany.

- Learn how she uses fire, salt, and solarization to transform photographs into visceral reflections of climate change.

- Uncover the stories hidden in America’s neglected slave dwellings and what their preservation—or erasure—says about historical memory.

- Explore how architecture becomes a tool of oppression, remembrance, and resistance in Gesche’s research-driven visual practice.

Tune in to this episode to:

- Explore how photography can serve as visual historiography and socio-political critique

- Learn how analog image-making and material experimentation can reflect environmental collapse

- Hear how oral histories, archives, and landscapes intersect in the retelling of German and American histories

- Gain insight into the emotional and ethical layers of documenting sites of trauma and transformation

EPISODE LINKS

Gesche’s Website: https://geschewuerfel.com | Instagram: @gewuerfel
Support the Book on Kickstarter: The Absence and Presence of the Berlin Wall

OUTLINE:

0:00 - Coming Up…

0:44 – Welcome & Introductions

1:30 – Gesche’s Journey: From Urban Planning to Visual Art

5:38 – Photography, Place, and the Traces of Human Presence

11:25 – Global Sameness and the Architecture of Identity

15:53 – Influences, Intuition, and Experimental Process

24:32 – Forests in the Anthropocene: Climate, Material, and Metaphor

37:23 – Architecture of Oppression: From Nazi Camps to Slave Dwellings

51:45 – Berlin Wall Project: Absence, Memory, and Reunification

1:18:50 – Portraits and Oral Histories: Telling a Fuller Story

1:25:10 – The Book: Vision, Kickstarter, and Teamwork

1:36:11 – Advice for Artists: Trusting Intuition and Long-Term Thinking

1:39:11 – Closing Thoughts and Where to Find Gesche’s Work

SOCIAL:

Twitter: /UrbanautPodcast

Facebook: /TheUrbanautPodcast

Instagram: /TheUrbanautPodcast

Support on Patreon: /TheUrbanautPodcast

#GescheWürfel #TheUrbanautPodcast #BerlinWall #ClimateChangeArt #ExperimentalPhotography #SociopoliticalArt #SlaveDwellings #HolocaustMemory #PostWallGermany #Urbanautica #PhotographyPodcast #ContemporaryPhotography #ArtAndActivism #VisualSociology #PatrickLeeHubbard #SteveBisson