Iconography

1) In one sentence, what is your podcast about?

Iconography is a history podcast that focuses each episode on an icon, real or imagined, that has come to define a place and has been defined by that place in turn.

2) Who should listen to your podcast?

Iconography is for people who are fans of long-form investigations into topics we all think we know but that reveal unexpected depths when poked and prodded. I think people who enjoy what Karina Longworth does on You Must Remember This – including doing fun voices when quoting historical figures, which ummm I do as well – will be on board with Iconography, which brings the same spirit from icons ranging from The Spice Girls to Robin Hood.

3) How long have you been podcasting and why did you get into podcasting?

I have been podcasting for over six years, first in a movie review chat-cast and then in the format I use now, long-form, scripted nonfiction. I started podcasting because something about blogging (my initial post-college pursuit) felt impermanent and incomplete. Like when it was just a very long blog post about Paddington, it always felt like I needed to go back in and add something, change something. And I could do that, but it felt wrong. Something about putting together a audio presentation – well thought-out, with clips woven in, with music – felt like it allowed me to make my definitive statement on topics I cared about. When I publish a podcast episode like the one I did on Paddington as a British icon, I always feel satisfied, like I’ve actually said my piece about that topic and I don’t need to tinker with it anymore. Sort of like I’ve distilled what’s actually in my head into something that can enter someone else’s head.

4) What non-podcasting hobbies do you have?

Non-podcasting hobbies include filmgoing (not like a normal amount of filmgoing but, when I’m in good form, upwards of 100 new releases a year), trivia night (I’m coming off an epic come-from-behind victory last night that still has me giddy), improv comedy, and music (I’m a singer and instrumentalist of the nerdy choral and symphonic band variety).

5) What is one show (other than your own) that you think everyone should listen to?

The one show I think everyone should get on is Accession from T.H. Ponders. It’s like if Nate Dimeo’s residency at the Metropolitan Museum of Art for Memory Palace grew legs, walked away, found a fertile piece of land in Massachusetts, and grew into a weird and wonderful meditation on how art inspires us. Some episodes are straight-up art appreciation and history, but other episodes have included a set of gorgeous love letters that track a relationship with a pointillist painting; a 30 for 30 style mockumentary inspired by an Aztec sculpture; a poem for children; and a journey to an art museum on the moon. It’s wild, moving, and impeccably produced.

6) Anything else interesting you’d like to share?