Fresh Aesthetic with Stephen Garton

Today’s episode features Benjamin Faye and is a celebration of black history in music. Benji shares his musical expertise and breaks down a timeline of music history from the blues right through to hip-hop and its resulting influences on modern music. You'll hear all about how modern music as we know it today has been shaped and molded by the blues, and that the majority of popular styles of m...

Today’s episode is my conversation with Pat Brittenden Pat is an award-winning podcaster, YouTuber, and seasoned talkback radio host. With years of experience in podcasts and radio shows, he now dedicates his efforts to his primary project, Big Hairy News . This show offers long-form commentary on mainstream news, creating space to do justice to its guests and the stories it explores. You can tune...

Today’s episode is my conversation with Andrew Killick. Andrew is a photographer, writer, poet, editor, and more, publishing his creative work under the moniker Safe Little World. Andrew’s work stems from the paradox and merging of physical and spiritual experiences. Andrew describes one of his core values using a quote from Evelyn Underhill, which says, “The double movement of Transcendent Love,...

Today’s episode is my conversation with Dr. Brendan Kwiatkowski. Brendan is a researcher, speaker, consultant, and educator focused on the social-emotional development and wellbeing of boys and men, particularly in relation to the wellbeing of those around them. His interdisciplinary work bridges psychology, sociology, and education. Brendan completed his Ph. D. in Education at the University of E...

Today’s episode is my conversation with Sam Sellers Sam is a registered therapist and a clinical supervisor, specialising in religious trauma. Sam is queer and talks about her experiences navigating the intersection of queerness and spirituality. 

Sam describes being a queer person within a faith community as potentially painful and hard and how it can involve an immense amount of cognitive disso...

Today’s episode is my conversation with the one and only Janice Lagata. Janice is a writer, a podcaster, a musician, and an incredibly intelligent thinker and speaker. Her work is thoughtful, carefully considered, intelligent, and most importantly, challenging. This conversation is a 2 hour deep dive into capitalism, platform culture, the undervalued nature of the arts, decolonisation, white savio...

Today’s episode is my conversation with Brady Rather. Brady is a musician and host of the podcast Love Like A Heretic . This episode covers a range of topics around themes of authenticity and being true to who you are, not who others want you to be. Brady talks about why it’s so important to be committed to intentional presence on a daily basis. He also discusses 3 unavoidable constants of life: p...

Today’s episode is my interview with Cameron Bishop. Cameron works for Impact Lives - a centre for transformation, cultural competence, and social innovation. Cameron works specifically to guide communities to places of inclusion and belonging in order to influence equity and freedom. Our conversation is rich with ideas for expanding worldviews to include more space for otherness. Cameron also dis...

Today’s episode is my interview with Ian Turner. Ian is a writer, musician, and producer. Ian also has a podcast called Garden of Sound where he interviews a range of artists and highlights New Zealand music. For more of Ian's work, be sure to check out gardenofsound.nz All music used in this episode is written, recorded and produced by Ian Turner and used with permission. The songs are perfor...

Today’s episode is my interview with Michael Wright. Michael is a writer, most well known for his weekly letter on art and spirit called Still Life. Michael is a thoughtful, contemplative person with a passion for art and spirituality. You can find his writing at mrmichaelwright.substack.com This episode is rich in reflections on the trappings of a modern society that prioritises productivity and...

Today’s episode is my interview with Nyree Huyser. Nyree is a singer songwriter who competed in the Voice Australia in 2023. She has just released her debut album, called Fixing Heads and Chasing Tails , which you can find on all major streaming platforms. It is a powerful blend of originals and covers, all with her signature soulful vocals with an eclectic blend of musical styles. You can support...

Today’s episode is my interview with Jackie G. Jackie is an author, YouTuber, public speaker and podcaster. In this episode Jackie dives deep into her journey through numerous challenges and hard times. She discusses what it was like coming to terms with her sexuality, battling an eating disorder, alcoholism and being constantly compared to her sister. Ultimately, she poses the question: what woul...

Today’s episode is my interview with podcaster and author Meghan Tschanz Meghan discusses what faith means to her today, and her extensive journey with social justice work. Meghan is the author of the book, Women Rising: Learn to Listen, Reclaiming Our Voice . She also hosts a really great podcast called Faith and Feminism , and is a keynote speaker who is dedicated to reclaiming intersectional fe...

Today’s episode is my interview with Tara Teng. Our conversation covers a whole range of topics around sexuality, including: embodiment. doing the work of decolonisation, comprehensive and enthusiastic consent, having a healthy sexual ethic, and much more. Content warning: This conversation covers rape culture, human trafficking and exploitation of marginalised bodies. Tara is a somatic practition...

In today’s episode, the wonderful Katie Brookfield returns to the show to share more of her expansive expertise on sexual ethics, purity culture, patriarchy, women’s rights and a whole lot more. We unpacked a wide range of ideas around what it means to have a healthy sexuality for yourself and how that might interact with the ethics of others. Katie's first episode is called Navigating Identit...

Today’s guest is the exceptionally talented musician and songwriter, Dylan Chambers. We dive into Dylan’s backstory and explore how his journey led him through some dark times of loneliness and how he channels those feelings into positivity in his music. Dylan’s new single, “I can Never Get Enough” is out on April 10th, and is from his upcoming EP called For Your Listening Pleasure! Which is out o...

Today's episode is my interview with David Hayward, more commonly known as the Naked Pastor. This episode hones in on what it means to be vulnerable and open-hearted to the entirety of the human experience. David shares about what vulnerability means to him, and also what it means to evolve and grow as a creative artist and as a person. A recurring theme in this episode is what it really means...

Today's episode is an interview with writer, podcaster, life coach, teacher, LGBTQ+ advocate and queer theology enthusiast, Mike Maeshiro. Mike is also the founder of Numa, an organisation that supports people recovering from religious toxicity. Mike has a powerful quote that summarises what he stands for: “HUMANS MATTER MORE THAN THEOLOGY.” The ethos behind that quote comes across loud and cl...

Today’s episode is my interview with Andy Dickson. Andy describes himself firstly as a husband, a dad and a son. But he is also a spoken word poet, a writer, a podcaster, a business director and has a Masters in Theology. Andy’s podcast is called Down to Earth Conversations where he talks to ordinary people who are doing good in the world, or as he likes to say, are "bringing a bit of heaven...

Today’s episode is my interview with Mason Mennenga. Mason is a theologian, podcaster, YouTuber, and self-identifies as the "Internet's youth pastor.” He has an impressive academic background with a Master of Divinity and a Master of Arts in Theology. Through his platforms, Mason mixes theological concepts with a dose of fun and approachability. His content is clever and thought-provoking...

Welcome to Season 4 of Fresh Aesthetic! Join in the conversation as we explore the vastness of the human experience through creativity, authenticity, science and spirituality. Today’s episode is my interview with Phil Drysdale. Phil helps people who are going through radical shifts in what they believe. He works online doing one to one coaching, academic research, and is now training to be a thera...

This episode is my interview with Katie Brookfield. Katie has a Degree and Masters in Theology and is a deep thinker with a passion for women’s rights, sexual ethics and empowering others through sharing her experience. Katie has a clear and concise way of sharing her perspective that holds space for nuance and compassion for the journey. Katie is extremely humble, and has a very balanced way of l...

This episode is my interview with the one and only Kevin Garcia. Kevin is a spirituality coach, mystical theologian, content curator and is the author of 2 amazing books - Bad Theology Kills and their brand new book, What Makes You Bloom, which releases January 9th 2024. This episode is so fun, so raw and so real, and I am incredibly grateful for to be able to share it with you.

Today’s episode is a follow up interview with Sarah Norquoy after her interview with Matt about a month ago. In this interview I go deeper with Sarah about her faith journey and some of the struggles and triumphs she’s had along the way. Over the conversation we talk about things like death, loneliness, isolation, evolving beliefs, critical thinking and a whole lot more.

Our conversation with highly successful business entrepreneurs, Chris Renwick and Lucy Greenwood, discussing their journey as owners of the funky, ethical and inclusive clothing brand Lucy and Yak. This is such a fun discussion about how fulfilling life can be as a business owner, but also some of the extreme challenges that go along with the territory. Chris and Lucy have so much insight to share...