Meet: Creators of A Fluorescent Feeling
Meet the creators of A Fluorescent Feeling, a new podcast about pain and our bodies – how we talk about them and live inside them.
Photo by Emma Wood
Georgia, when did you start thinking about A Fluorescent Feeling? Can you trace the ideas for this project back to somewhere in particular?
Georgia Mill: This project has come about through a writing project I'm currently undertaking around representations of chronic pain, sexuality and the body. I've been researching and interviewing people for over a year and wanted to highlight some of their stories. My writing project is specifically focused on people in the LGBTQIA+ community, but for the audio series, I've also included other voices to highlight artworks and writers that I came across as part of that research and that participants introduced me to.
Georgia, as a writer, what propelled you to explore this project through sound?
GM: I love written work, but through sound you can incorporate so many different voices – there's something special about hearing a story told directly from an interviewee or hearing an author read their work. My writing is more autobiographical whereas, with this project, I really wanted to have the contributors at the forefront. When I was listening to people describe their pain some of the words they were using lent themselves to audio interpretation and I felt like sound would be a beautiful way of highlighting the intensity and texture of pain itself. I wanted pain to be more than a problem that needs solving, I wanted to create a space that sat with pain and the people in it.
Georgia and Michelle, how did your collaboration come about?
GM: I already knew that Michelle was an amazing audio producer and artist, but got a chance to chat with her at work – we both work at Schwartz media – while I was recording some ads for a publication and Michelle was producing them. She was so great at putting me at ease and providing tips to get the right vocal quality. We had a really lovely chat and I think I went away and listened to a few of her other projects. Unbeknownst to me, I'd also just been listening to an audio work that Michelle had produced for the Shortcuts podcast. A month or so later I contacted her to see if she'd be interested in collaborating.
Michelle Macklem: After reading some of Georgia’s writing, I was excited about bringing her creative lens on chronic pain into the audio space. So much of the discourse about chronic pain is either medicalized or deficit reporting, so it felt incredibly unique to bring something artful and literary into the space, something that provoked questions and spoke to personal stories that aren’t focussed solely on trauma.
Michelle, as the sound designer, what sonic influences have contributed to your vision of A Fluorescent Feeling?
MM: For any project, I always like to sit with the content and understand the team’s vision for the show in order to map out the emotional landscape of the audio world. With Georgia and A Florescent Feeling, it felt like a sensibility that was laid back, spacious and curious could create a generous listening environment. Something for the words to rest on top of, rather than stand out too much in the storytelling.
Georgia, as this project has some autobiographical elements, what was it like to learn from and experience how other people experience and conceptualise pain?
GM: It's been validating, confronting, heartbreaking and inspiring. I've learnt so much from the generous people I spoke to. I feel like I'm only able to do this project now because I'm in less pain, but to see how so many people continue to be creative and live with persistent pain is pretty incredible. It's also just really lovely to be seen and to share your experiences with people who understand them, because managing chronic pain can be profoundly isolating.
Georgia and Michelle, what are you listening to at the moment?
GM: I have a six-month-old baby so most of my time is spent parenting and listening to this tiny, chaotic, amazing human. It's hard to find time to listen to podcasts at the moment. If I'm being honest, a lot of our day is spent listening to ABC radio and singing Galumph went the little green frog. We also listen to music together – we have a playlist that spans from The Temptations to David Bowie.
My go-to podcasts (before having a baby) were: Shortcuts, This American Life, Endless Thread, Unravel, Lore and Reply All.
MM: I’m fascinated with Pieces of Britney from BBC Radio4, the storytelling is engaging and the historical reenactments from Britney’s life are so strange, it’s very listenable. I’m about to dig into the third season Have You Heard George’s Podcast, which is a true stand out.
When you're not making A Fluorescent Feeling, what else are you working on and thinking about?
GM: Walking is a big part of my day so I'm always thinking about movement and love mapping journeys. When I do get spare creative time I work on my writing project and try to spend time drawing, I find it a great way to relax and brainstorm new ideas.
MM: Lately, I’ve been enjoying small moments and pleasures. Turning my listening outward instead of inward in the times when it’s possible and enjoying spring as it emerges. In terms of work, I’m sound designing and mixing a new series with the data journalist Mona Chalabi that comes out later this year, which has been a real joy to work on so far.