The Process: How to authentically document your creative community?

DJ and producer, Tayo Papoola, explores how the ground-breaking photography of Jennie Baptiste documented a generation of Black British creatives. 

Rhythm and Roots – Jennie Baptiste’s first major solo exhibition – opened at Somerset House in Autumn 2025, celebrating a three-decade career across music, fashion and youth identity. From the vibrating energy of London’s dancehall scene to the rise of hip hop and R&B, it is a vital visual record of a generation finding its feet – and leaving its mark.  

But for Jennie, a child of the 80s and teenager of the 90s, it made total sense that photography would be a gateway into the culture. Growing up in north-west London to St. Lucian parents, her family were always taking photos. When her mother bought her a camera at 10, it never left her side as she captured the heyday of the UK’s hip hop scene and an underground culture looking to define itself.  

In this episode of The Process, radio producer and DJ Tayo Papoola – who grew up alongside this creative generation – asks: what does an authentic portrayal of a creative community look like? And how do you preserve these histories for generations to come?  

Tayo is joined by a set of creatives and contemporaries to Jennie who were important inspirations in the development of her practice and shaping the culture in real time.... DJ Semtex, music director Jake Nava and British Nigerian fashion designer Wale Adeyemi.

Credits:  
Contributors: Jennie Baptiste, DJ Semtex, Jake Nava and Walé Adeyemi 
Producer and narration: Tayo Papoola   
Host: Laurent John 
Theme Music: Ka Baird  
Sound Engineer: Mike Woolley 
Executive Producer: Eleanor Ritter-Scott 

The Somerset House Podcast, shaped and sculpted by artists, explores original cultural ideas which connect listeners to the creative process.  

The Process is an artist-led podcast series, developed by Somerset House, which explores the new ideas, big questions and surprising tangents which emerge from the artistic process.  

Drawing on the creative community both on site at Somerset House and from the exhibition programme, each episode follows artists as they explore one idea they’re currently pursuing, to see where it ends up: from financial astrology to the black renaissance, quantum listening to geometry for aliens.  

Along the way, we hear from thinkers across disciplines, including artists such as Mark Leckey and Gazelle Twin on their fascination with ghosts and all things paranormal, and Hannah Diamond on the transformative potential of cute – and how these creative influences shape their practice in new and surprising ways.