The Documentary Podcast Folgen

Artists Himali Singh Soin and David Soin Tappeser explore the complex weave of histories and myths around Britain’s imperial salt monopoly in India. Paul Waters joins them as they create an open-air installation at the Somerset House gallery in London, paired with a poignant indoor exhibition occupying spaces formerly used to administer Britain’s colonial-era salt tax. The 80 metre long fabric installation is to replicate the Inland Customs Line, a monumental 2,500 mile long hedge across India, created by Britain in the 1800s, to enforce salt taxation. This reinterpretation draws on cotton printed with botanical dyes from the hedge's original plants, to highlight the human and ecological cost of colonial extraction. Himali and David aren’t just creating one exhibition in one location. They are also creating a parallel installation further along the river Thames, at the Tate Britain art gallery and we’ll be following them as they work across both sites.

BBC health correspondent James Gallagher investigates how our noisy world is damaging our health. He finds out why noise increases our risk of health problems, like heart attacks, sleep problems and anxiety, and can even affect how long we live. James spends two days in Barcelona – one of the noisiest cities in Europe – to meet the people whose health is being ruined by noise and the scientists and doctors trying to solve the problem. He also visits London to be experimented on in a lab to find out how noise changes the body, and hears from Dhaka, capital of Bangladesh, one of the loudest places on the planet.

According to Kenya’s Health Ministry, between 2020 and 2023, about 16,000 women in Kenya decided to undergo a sterilisation procedure known as tubal ligation. While some of them already had children and didn’t want any more, others were saying no to motherhood altogether: they’re women who define themselves as child-free, meaning they have consciously decided never to have children. BBC Africa's Danai Nesta Kupemba has been looking into the this movement and has spoken to two Kenyan women who have recently committed to a child-free life.Also on the show: stories about people celebrating Ramadan around the world, with BBC Urdu's Aliya Nazki, BBC Indonesia's Silvano Hajid and BBC Arabic's Khitam Amer; cricket enthusiast Janhavee Moole reporting for BBC Marathi on India's recent success at the ICC Champions Trophy; and the ship fixing Africa's internet blackouts with Daniel Dadzie in Ghana. Presented by Faranak Amidi. Produced by Hannah Dean, Alice Gioia and Caroline Ferguson. (Photo: Faranak Amidi. Credit: Tricia Yourkevich.)