Being Biracial is a podcast that explores the complexities and challenges of navigating the world as a mixed race person – hosted by Maria Birch-Morunga, a Māori/Pakehā trainer and artist who serves on the board of arts organisation Mossfolk and Kate Robinson, an Iranian/Australian family violence lawyer who serves on the board of NextWave and the QVWC Trust.
Throughout the first season, Maria and Kate interview various artists with mixed heritage that delve into topics such as linguistic insecurities and becoming a Chameleon in predominately white spaces. In the process they examine their own doubts and fears around claiming their own cultural heritage and lived experiences. There is a real sense that the hosts are learning and processing at the same time as the audience which builds a beautiful sense of community and vulnerability. Both hosts approach conversations from a point of curiosity, compassion and shared value that creating a space where their guests feel comfortable is more important than chasing ‘the story.’
In this Colour Box Studio interview Maria and Kate discuss their inspiration for creating the podcast, their motivation to serve community and their upcoming in-person Being Biracial Podcast events.
Tell us a little bit about yourself and what you do.
Maria: We co-create a podcast series called Being Biracial. Being Biracial all about navigating the world as a mixed-race person. Season 1 of the podcast was made up of 24 episodes that delved into themes like racism and privilege, the significance of names, returning to the ‘motherland’, and the Spice Girls. Now we have interviewed people from all different mixes, and each episode is an interview with one of those guests. We are currently working on season 2 of our podcast!
How did you start your creative practice and why?
Kate: It’s simple, I’m obsessed with podcasts. So much of my learning about race and identity has come from podcasts. I love the sense of closeness that comes from listening to a podcast week in week out. Learning from and growing with the hosts. Honestly, podcasts gave me the vocabulary to start to describe all of my feelings about being mixed race. I particularly love Still Processing, Code Switch and Appearances. Listening to those podcasts feels like a deep chat and a giggle on the couch with a friend. But also I think there is something so special about seeing your story represented in the media.
We had searched for content about the biracial experience in Australia and Aotearoa for a while, before we decided to create our podcast. We found a handful of things here and there, but we were searching for something more substantial. So we decided to create it.
Where did you grow up and how has it influenced your practice?
Maria: I’m Māori/Pakeha and I’m from Aotearoa. Technically both my parents are from New Zealand, it’s just Mum is white and Dad is brown. Throw in some intergenerational trauma and domestic violence and you have this brown girl being raised by her white mum in their white town. I’ve spent a lot of time searching for where I belonged and feeling too white to be Māori and too Māori to be white. Strangely it was after moving to Melbourne/Naarm in 2015 when I fully allowed myself to just be. I’m finding a lot of joy in reconnecting to my māoritanga, learning about my whanau and incorporating tikanga into my everyday life.
Kate: I’m Iranian/Australian. It might not seem like anything, but even claiming all of my “mix” is something that is kind of new for me. On one of our episodes a guest posed the question: “is that really a heritage that I can claim?” and I’ve been thinking about that a lot. I think the act of “claiming” is something that comes with the territory of being biracial. And I think it’s why it’s so important in every episode we say our names and where we have come from. We are leading with all of ourselves.
Tell us about your past creative projects. What has been your most treasured highlight so far?
Kate: Creating Being Biracial is the first time that Maria and I have worked on a creative project together and it has been a journey. It’s also the first time either of us have made a podcast and if I’m completely honest, we didn’t really realise how much work goes into creating an independent podcast. We have fumbled through the process to learn how to develop, record, distribute and promote our project. It’s been hard but so incredibly fulfilling. A highlight for me has been recording our first episode – we are scary spice. It is so hard to talk about yourself and your family and be honest with where you are at. But it didn’t feel right to start our podcast journey without giving our listeners a little peek into who we are and our stories. I’m so proud of the space we created for ourselves in that episode, and that we were able to keep sense of ourselves for the rest of the season.
Tell us about your current project?
Maria: At its core Being Biracial comes from the difficult conversations we have had about racial imposter syndrome and the trouble of belonging as a mixed race person. Kate and I created this space in our friendship to have these conversations. When we couldn’t stop talking about the annoying and rage inducing experiences we both shared, we knew we were onto something. I expected some of the common threads especially around racism and micro-agressions, but what really surprised me was the joy, resilience and tensions in the rich family stories our guests weaved..
Kate: Yeah you’re right we don’t exist in a vacuum, our stories are deeply tied to our families.
Who or what inspires your practice?
Maria: My inspiration is varied when it comes to my podcasting practice. My co-host and our guests inspire me hugely, the ease of conversation and the stories entrusted to us humbles me. Beyond that being Māori is a huge source of inspiration as well. We are storytellers and orators by nature and knowing that I, in some way, embody that too propels me to keep creating.
Where do you feel most creative and why?
Kate: I have two very contradictory things to say. I have been lucky to be able to do some longer stints of travel as we have inched out (?) of covid times, and it has felt so incredible to be in the world again. I think during the pandemic I became very internal in a way, just focused on everything that was going on in my own little head. It felt so freeing to be external instead while I was overseas, and just soaking up inspiration from art galleries, and conversations with friends and quirky hardware stores with the coolest stickers. It helped me to remember the boundlessness of who I could be again, after so long in my 5km radius.
I carry a notebook and a sketchbook everywhere, and I love jotting things down wherever I am. But in reality I feel most creative when I bring back all this inspiration home. There is a sense of groundedness and familiarity and safety that comes being at home, that lets me go wild with my creative side. That’s why it’s so nice that we are going to be able to record season 2 of Being Biracial at our homes. It feels more intimate and vulnerable to have a chat over a cuppa on your couch.
What do you hope audiences take from your work?
Maria: I’m so proud of the way we have approached creating Being Biracial. We have been very values driven, with our integrity front and centre. I feel like we hold every story with the utmost care. It’s more important for us to create a space where people feel comfortable, than to get a good story. Anytime we get a message from somehow who tells us that they didn’t know anyone else felt that way and they feel seen, I light up because it means me are making something that centres our community.
What gets you through creative challenges or tough industry times?
Kate: Our friendship is what gets me through.I’ve always worked on creative projects alone. It’s so joyful to go through this experience and all of these interviews with someone I care about. Who can help me make decisions, and make me laugh uncontrollably. But also help me process all these stories – that makes me feel very lucky. And at the end of the day, there is something special about working on a project like this, having these tough conversations with a friend and still liking each other at the end of it.
What future projects are you looking forward to?
Maria: We have some exciting in-person events coming up in 2023 – including a craftanoon at MPavillion in April, and curating a Being Biracial arts event as part of the Amplify program with Maribyrnong City Council. You can check out all the detail on our website. Creating a podcast can feel a bit like shouting into the void, so it’s nice to be able to actually gather and chat and meet people who the podcast is resonating with.
Of course we are also working on season 2 of our podcast. We have been spending a bunch of time dreaming and planning and thinking really deeply about the kinds of stories we want to tell, and so we are excited to start recording interviews for this next iteration of BB. Even though, we both now know and appreciate the amount of work that it takes to create an independent podcast.
Whose work are you digging at the moment?
Kate: We have been incredibly lucky to interview some fabulous creatives as part of the podcast whose work I am obsessed with. The Green Twins created the music for our podcast intro (@greentwinsmusic) and they have some exciting new music that’s coming out this year. Their music is such a beautiful blend of soul and r’n’b and their song Take it Slow is on repeat in my head most days. You can also hear more about Nick’s story in episode 5 of our podcast ‘The son of a boat person (loud and proud).’
Where can we find and follow you online?
You can listen to Being Biracial wherever you find your podcasts and follow us along the journey @beingbiracialpodcast on instagram. You can also read more about us and our work at http://beingbiracialpodcast.com