A part of Clockshop’s Radio Imagination program, a series of public programs, readings, talks, and exhibitions that explored the life and writing of Octavia Butler and inspired by her archive at the Huntington Library, were a series of podcasts that focused on specific aspects of Butler’s life and archive.

This particular podcast, featuring Mendi + Kieth Obadike and Connie Samaras, three artists commissioned by Clockshop to produce artwork based on Butler’s archive and exhibited at the Armory Center for the Arts in Pasadena, discuss their overall artistic practices in relation to Butler and their experience with the archive. In going through the papers, Kieth Obadike says, “I don’t know if we’ve dealt with anyone else that there is so much intentionality around her archiving.” He goes on, “It’s fascinating to see someone write the life they want… through writing her stories, through her journaling, through her aphorisms, through all of those things.”

Connie Samaras also expands on the artists’ research, saying, “It’s not my individual project to work with Octavia Butler… instead this is the best possible situation because it is a community of artists working, this sort of exchange of information… it was just phenomenal.”

For more on Clockwork’s Radio Imagination podcasts, visit Clockshop’s website or soundcloud.