40 Years of Activism, Investigations, Film and Sound - My New Video Podcast with Viva!
Over the past four decades, I’ve spent much of my life documenting hidden worlds.
From undercover investigations inside factory farms in the 1980s, to filmmaking, journalism, television documentaries and international investigations across dozens of countries, right up to my recent sonic art project Industry Standard, one thread has remained constant: exposing what happens behind closed doors and giving voice to those who are rarely seen or heard.
I recently sat down with Viva! Podcast for one of the most personal and wide-ranging conversations I’ve done. It was also my first ever video podcast, which made it quite a different experience. One of the real benefits was being able to visually revisit different stages of my work through archive clips, photographs and footage spanning more than 40 years.
The conversation explores how punk culture in the 1980s first drew me into animal rights activism, alongside a few slightly embarrassing photos from my punk days that probably should have remained hidden.
We talk about my first undercover investigations into factory farming and my first film Meathead, a strange collision of music, drama and undercover footage that explored animal rights culture at the time.
The podcast also revisits a surreal early television appearance discussing veganism on Boy George’s late-night chat show in 1990, long before veganism had entered mainstream culture.
From there, the conversation moves through my documentary work in the early 1990s, including films on animal rights for Channel 4, before moving into the creation of the investigations unit at Compassion in World Farming in the late 1990s.
We also discuss some of the unexpected moments along the way. Being featured on programmes for the BBC and Animal Planet, carrying out investigations across the globe, and eventually founding Tracks Investigations almost twenty years ago.
The conversation finishes with my latest project Industry Standard, a sonic art and experimental music record created from covert field recordings gathered during undercover investigations into animal industries around the world.
One of the things I particularly appreciated about this conversation was that it also explored the deeper roots of activism in my family history. We discuss my great-grandparents’ involvement in radical social justice movements during the last century, including my great-grandfather standing for Parliament on a co-operative anti-capitalist platform, and my great-grandmother becoming one of the first women councillors in the UK.
Looking back over four decades, this podcast became less about a straight timeline and more about how politics, creativity, activism, investigation and music have continually collided throughout my life.
Other Podcast Conversations
Over the years I’ve also had the chance to speak on a number of podcasts about undercover investigations, filmmaking, animal advocacy and, more recently, sound and music.
Species Unite
Other Podcasts
If you’d like to hear the full conversation, you can watch or listen here:
Watch the Viva! Video Podcast