Black History Month is a significant reminder of the rich, expressive stories Black creators continue bringing to the audio world. Two creators doing just that are Rog and Bee Walker, the dynamic duo behind Paper Monday—a multimedia project that blends photography, music, and now audio to craft deeply personal narratives.
Rog and Bee—Jamaican and Kenyan-born, respectively—began their podcast in a continued pursuit of personal stories and experiences within society. As artists, they’re on a journey to create an archive of museum-worthy content that will live both digitally and in print collections.
We caught up with Paper Monday about their distinctive creative approach, a recording setup that might surprise you, and more.
Rog & Bee: In-depth portraits made via audio.
R&B: This is a new venture for us, so we’ll see how it evolves with time. Right now, we’re focused on telling short-form audio stories inspired by our personal experiences, and our knowledge gained from those experiences. We also have a large archive of interviews that we hope to produce and publish via our channel. Music also plays a big role in the stories we tell, with original compositions and vocal performances at the center of what we produce.
R&B: Since this is such a new project for us, finishing our introductory audio story was a big moment for us. We’re proud of the response it received.
R&B: Our recording setup is more typically used for film production. We use a short shotgun mic on a boom.
R&B: We share visual covers for each story or chapter via our Instagram. We also share directly with friends, and through our email list.
R&B: With the introduction of video to the platform, I foresee us utilizing that in a major way as an addition to our audio stories.
R&B: Something about the voice is essentially tied to one’s identity. When sharing a story, the voice connects with people in a way that visual narrative cannot. Stories via audio enter our psyche in a way that leads to a more influential impact than any other medium. The voice allows stories to be remembered, and told, in depth.
R&B: Having the audio channel has allowed us to tell complete stories that incorporate both our voices and our personal perspectives. That’s monumental because we’ve been able to show things visually throughout our career as visual artists. With audio we’ve been able to literally speak, which has brought depth and dimension to our stories.
