Josie Moon: Rubbing up to discomfort
Josie Moon, is a writer, musician and theatre maker based in Grimsby. Josie applied for Artists Respond funding in 2021 with the intent to dedicate time for thinking and writing around ideas of “coercion and jingoism” and her “response to what has happened during the pandemic.”
Themes of responsibility, governmentality and authoritarianism, virtue, climate and selflessness emerged as she reflected upon lived and possible future realities. Her expansive thinking lead her to create a “huge, meandering mind map… sketch and ideas pad” (an extract of which is shown in the banner at the top of this page) which inspired her to write the poem sequence linked here.
Josie also used her time to connect with a “poetry group online with professional editors who support poets to compile and publish collections of their work.” She is hopeful to publish with them next year and that the sequence of poetry above will be placed in that publication.
Buoyed by the opportunity to give space and time to her writing, and stirred by the issues at play, Josie also finalised a play that she initially wrote in 2016 and submitted it to the 2021 Women’s Playwriting Competition.
Josie concludes that: "I have had a great opportunity to ask myself 'What if?' questions and explore lots of pathways that I otherwise would not have had time for. I am immensely grateful for that. I have confronted some difficult and challenging ideas, rubbed up against views and attitudes that make me distressed. I've had some good conversations with other artists and writers and I have moved my writing work to the front and centre of my practice - which is where it deserves to be."
To find out more about Josie’s work, visit her website here: https://josie-moon.com