Today, public relations is powered by digital storytelling, inclusivity, immersive experiences, data and hybrid strategies. But it's also shaped by distinct and diverse artists who happen to be PR creatives. And that's exactly what this exhibition episode uncovers and celebrates. For the first time, the Art of PR, liberates these artists from the client brief. Now in its second year, this dedicated exhibition showcases PR professionals as artists telling their own creative stories. The Coningsby Gallery in London has hosted both editions, and this year you can also explore the online exhibition until the 15th of October, thanks to Occhi Arts & Entertainment. The link is below on this episode page.

Joining us today are Ade Lee, founder of the Art of PR. Ade also specialises in wet plate photography, creating unique contemporary portraits and images by returning to Victorian techniques of the 1850s.

Fola Odumosu, is a sculptor who handcrafts abstract forms, working intuitively. She develops a dialogue with her materials, building imagined architecture that can both rise from the canvas or stand as three-dimensional works.

Simon Moore, is a fine artist, creative director, designer, illustrator and animator. His work has been shown in the BP Portrait Award at London's National Portrait Gallery and he's equally at home scaling up to film billboards or street art.

Nadia Padayachy, is a portrait artist whose work captures raw emotional depth. Themes of parenting, love, resilience and connection run through her paintings with unflinching honesty. Nadia was also quarter finalist on Sky Arts Portrait Artist of the Year in 2024 and her work also includes a lifelong passion for cinema.

We talk about the courage it takes to be an artist, to stand in your own vulnerability, building confidence through connection, leaving comfort zones, but supporting wellbeing. We explore the gift of reflection in abstract art, the role of narrative and recognition, the influence of cinema, finding fulfilment, whether your art is commercial or not, and the creative engine of curiosity.

You can enjoy The Art of PR, online exhibition with 19 diverse, artists, beautifully presented, courtesy of Occhi Arts & Entertainment. It's available until the 15th of October, just scroll down to Enter Exhibition:

https://occhicontemporary.org/online-gallery/

And in Season 7, meet two more distinct artists, also exhibiting in The Art of PR, Tonye Ekine and David Emmanuel Noel, highlighting identity, personal and social wellbeing.

Images, kind permission of:

Ade Lee - 1. Self portrait 2. Peruvian puppeteer Bella.

Fola Odumosu - 1. Infinite 2. Comfort Zone

Simon Moore - 1. Flotsam and Jetsam 2. Time Is the Old Justice

Nadia - 1. Sleeping with Babies

Discover the artists:

Ade Lee: https://www.instagram.com/aderollei/?hl=en-gb

Fola Odumosu: https://www.folaodumosu.com/

Simon Moore: https://www.burkeandhare.net/

Nadia Padayachy: https://www.instagram.com/nadiapadayachy/?hl=en-gb

Coningsby Gallery, The Art of PR:

https://www.coningsbygallery.com/exhibition/art-of-pr-september-2025

Exhibition soundtrack, Hoxton Radio:

https://hoxtonradio.com/nondef-cd-sounds-art-of-pr-2025/

Production:

Series Audio Editor - Joey Quan.

Series Music - Courtesy of Barry J. Gibb

Closed Captions are added to all audio interviews in this series.

Read only, text transcripts of every interview, news, reviews and your host, Paula Moore, are available here: https://canartsaveus.com/

THANK YOU FOR LISTENING. PLEASE SHARE THIS FREE TO LISTEN SERIES TO HELP MAKE THE ARTS ALL OF OURS.

You may be someone who has already experienced a 360 life change through ill health, or are currently supporting somebody with a life changing diagnosis. Dr Shanali Perera's own 360 story is one of sudden, abrupt and frightening change. 10 years ago, as a medical doctor, Shanali was specializing in rheumatology with a specific interest in vasculitis, a rare autoimmune disease, only to become diagnosed with it herself. Her fast tracked medical career was derailed, leaving her with uncertainty, loss and fear. It was when she turned to visual digital art that she found not only a new form of expression, but finally regained control of her experience. Today as a practicing artist, including acrylic paint on canvas, her work is at the intersection of art, medical education and patient advocacy. Shanali is an activist, her art, writing and talks put human experience at the center of patient care and medical learning. It's through the therapeutic benefits of art and expression as an alternative language that both clinicians and patients can dramatically improve care and self-management. Her book, Finding Me Beyond Illness, is a visual narrative about her transformation. She illustrates her personal pathway, and invites patients to take similar steps that help make human, medical and art concepts, one conversation.

Discover Shanali Perera: https://www.shanaliperera.com/

Series Audio Editor - Joey Quan.

Series Music - Courtesy of Barry J. Gibb

Closed Captions are added to all audio interviews in this series.

Read only, text transcripts of every interview, news, reviews and your host, Paula Moore, are available here: https://canartsaveus.com/

THANK YOU FOR LISTENING. PLEASE SHARE THIS FREE TO LISTEN SERIES TO HELP MAKE THE ARTS ALL OF OURS.

Professor Ericka Verba, is the director of Latin American Studies at California State University. She's an author and a musician, recently reviewed as a rising star by the Los Angeles magazine voyage LA. She is notably the author of the first English language biography of Violeta Parra out now entitled Thanks to Life. The title translates Parra's iconic song, Gracias a la Vida, famously covered by Joan Baez and many more. Violeta Parra is one of Chile's most important women artists and Ericka's study of her life and work spans five decades. Her deep expertise translates into the reviews, describing it as a "stunning achievement" and "deeply moving." She both navigates and honors the life of a complex woman, an artist who shattered gender, racial and class barriers. Violeta Parra collected and preserved Chilean folk music as a personal mission, now of huge national significance and made an important contribution to Chile's protest music movement. New Song. Thanks to life, underscores the power of art as a force for change. Parra represented voices that were otherwise unheard in her songs, notably women workers and indigenous peoples. She broke extraordinary barriers as a recording and visual artist working across paintings, ceramics and tapestries. In 1964 she became the first self taught Latin American visual artist to hold a solo exhibition at the Museum of Decorative Arts, housed in the Louvre, Paris, tragically in 1967 and this biography documents her travels throughout Latin America and Europe at the height of the Cold War. It's intertwined with her conflicting identities and the meaning of authenticity. This biography is a legacy work of passion and compassion.

Discover Ericka Verba https://erickaverba.com/

Series Audio Editor - Joey Quan.

Series Music - Courtesy of Barry J. Gibb

Closed Captions are added to all audio interviews in this series.

Read only, text transcripts of every interview, news, reviews and your host, Paula Moore, are available here: https://canartsaveus.com/

THANK YOU FOR LISTENING. PLEASE SHARE THIS FREE TO LISTEN SERIES AND HELP MAKE THE ARTS ALL OF OURS.