Artisanal miners prospect for toxic rare-earth metals on the edges of huge corporate pit mines, alongside alien-looking metallophyte plants found nowhere else in the world. Cloak and dagger CIA manoeuvring from the Cold War reverberates into the present. Workers separated by oceans, empires and supply chains struggle to find ways to support each other. In Episode 74 we’re joined by our friend, artist Roger Peet, to talk about his extraordinary work building solidarity with miners in the Democratic Republic of Congo, his family ties to the Congolese uranium production that ultimately made American empire possible, and the possibility of using art to shed light on histories usually left in the shadows.

The title of this episode is borrowed from an exhibition of Roger’s, which was titled ‘Dig Up the Sun’.

Show Notes

Roger’s Instagram

Roger’s store

Roger’s artist page on JustSeeds

Roger’s Congo work, collected

First They Mined for the Atomic Bomb. Now They’re Mining for E.V.s. by Roger Peet

Of Critical Minerals and Atomic Bombs: The Conquest of the Congo by Roger Peet

‘The Secret Congolese Mine that Ended the Second World War - And Inspired Wakanda’ by Roger Peet

La Biennale de Lubumbashi

Dig Up the Sun

Links

Instagram

Merch

fuckingcancelled.com

clementinemorrigan.com

jaylesoleil.com

Theme song

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