Artists
Muneera Pilgrim
Where is home for you?
In the hearts of those who love me, or have shared their stories with me or those who have allowed me to share my story with them
How did you bring home with you on tour?
I brought myself in all honesty, openness and vulnerability.
Touring is important because it brings art and rare stories to communities who may not be able to access it otherwise
Poetry is not a luxury. It is a vital necessity of our existence.
Which city was your favourite to visit on tour with ETT?
Doncaster
What gem did you discover on tour with ETT?
Honeycomb Ice Cream and Doncaster Minster, where they do awesome work with newly arrived communities who have not yet been granted asylum into the country.
What are your touring essentials?
Dried snacks for the hotel/apartment, fresh fruit, leafy greens and a portable blender for when you are low on energy, a mobile charging bank, The Artist Way, and something to pamper yourself with; a bath bomb, new nail varnish, a face mask, new body oils or something like that.
What’s your go-to recipe whilst on tour?
If I’m not in a hotel red lentils and vegetable stew, or coconut porridge
Which artist(s) do you most admire and why?
Oumou Sangare, because she is not frightened of her gloriousness. She recognises that she is a gift and shines and fills all of her spaces.
What music inspires you?
My tedx talk, D smoke the last supper and a picture of the Senegalese girl basketball team.
What piece of writing or quote inspires you?
Poetry is not a luxury. It is a vital necessity of our existence. It forms the quality of the light within which we predicate our hopes and dreams toward survival and change, first made into language, then into idea, then into more tangible action. Poetry is the way we help give name to the nameless so it can be thought. The farthest horizons of our hopes and fears are cobbled by our poems, carved from the rock experiences of our daily lives.
Poetry is the way we help give name to the nameless so it can be thought. The farthest horizons of our hopes and fears are cobbled by our poems, carved from the rock experiences of our daily lives.
The more I travel, the more connected I feel with humanity...
What, for you, makes a good piece of art?
Art which is inclusive, made with intention and passion.
What have been your career highlights so far?
Getting paid to travel the world and share my art with people. More than anything the fact that people in a completely different context would have any interest in me is incredible, and a source of gratitude.
If you were cast away on a desert island, which 5 plays would you take with you and why?
Barbershop Chronicles, Horde, Cuckoo (play about south Korea), Othello, and my first play which has not been made yet.
Please can you tell us what you would say to emerging artists to encourage them to take their work on the road or join an ETT tour?
The more I travel, the more connected I feel with humanity, the more I learn, the more I grow, the more I love, the more inspired I am, the more grateful I am, the more hope I have and the more I desire to give of myself and receive from others. I am sure you will find this too.
Window or aisle seat?
Window
Favourite way to travel?
Plane unless it’s the Eurostar.
If you could have any superpower, which would you choose?
The ability to read and change hearts
Do you have any upcoming projects we can promote on your page?
My first poetry collection, residency with In Between Time and Push Festival, Greenbelt Festival residency, nana poetry collective, Kiota Bristol residency and InshAllah more work with ETT
Muneera Pilgrim’s biog:
Muneera Pilgrim is an international poet, cultural producer, writer, broadcaster and artist who works across disciplines, with words as her instrument. Currently she is writing her first play and her first published poetry collection. She is an artist and community researcher at In-Between Time and a resident with Pervasive Media Studio. She co-founded Poetic Pilgrimage, Britain’s first Muslim female Hip-Hop and Spoken word duo, and continues to work expansively as a solo artist.
Further reading:
Instagram: @Muneera_Pilgrim
Twitter: @MuniPilgrim
