Neo Florence Gilson is a poet, writer and storyteller from South Africa. In 2021, she was awarded the Play it Forward Fellowship with Skein Press. Her writing is published in The Stinging Fly, Storm’s Journal of Poetry, Prose and Visual Art, The Irish Examiner and Poetry Jukebox Belfast.
And she’s Artist in Residence with Sample Studios and the Graffiti Theatre Company in Cork.
‘It’s a tedious wait really and, and affects one’s mental health. And for some of us, you know doing the arts, it’s like a lifeline, you know. You find something bigger than you that you can connect to. That keeps you grounded, that keeps you breathing and that gives you an expression.’
We talk about de-colonialising beauty standards, writing as a lifeline, experiencing the world through the eyes of her daughter, and ‘setting a platform where things that we’re uncomfortable with discussing are being discussed’.
Follow her: @neogilsonartist
Thanks to the Arts Council of Ireland for their continued support.
TRANSCRIPT:
[00:00:00] Bairbre Flood: Hi and welcome back to Wander with me, Barbara Flood, supported by the Arts Council of Ireland.
Neo Gilson: Something bigger than you that you can connect to, that keeps you grounded, that keeps you breathing.
Bairbre Flood: Neo Florence Gilson is a Cork based poet, writer and storyteller from South Africa. In 2021, she was awarded the Play it Forward Fellowship with Skein Press. She’s read at the Dublin Literature Festival, the Cork International Poetry Festival and the Cuirt International Festival of Literature. Neo has appeared in Corcadorca Theatre Company and Outlandish Theatre Platform Productions, and her writing has been published in The Stinging Fly, Storm’s Journal of Poetry, Prose and Visual Art, The Irish Examiner and Poetry Jukebox Belfast.
Before she came to Ireland, she performed regularly at arts events in South Africa, including the annual Writers Festival Northern Cape, Mancoba Arts Exhibition for Arts and Ubuntu Trust, and the Avumo Arts Centre in Kimberley, among many others. In 2023, she won the Dignity Partnerships Visibility Award for a poet from the migrant community who’s contributing to social change.
And she’s currently artist in residence with Sample Studios and the Graffiti Theatre Company in Cork. This is Neo Florence Gilson.
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[00:01:17] Neo Gilson: My influences of writing have been a playwright, an author, and also an artist, Zakes Mda. And Sabata Mokae. He’s also a lecturer at the university, and he has written about five, five novels. And then in poetry, I would say Maya Angelou, and Fiona Bolger, yeah, and Chimamanda Ngozi.
So there’s the influences, it’s, it’s quite varied, and I think it also depends on, on the season sometimes that one is in.
[00:02:03] Bairbre Flood: Yeah. Yeah. The humor. Yeah. Do you think the writers from South Africa or from Africa just in general are not so well known in Europe that they deserve a bigger audience?
[00:02:17] Neo Gilson: I wouldn’t generalize and say that African writers are not known in Europe. They are known. However, the platforms might be somewhat limited, unless they are invited to literary festivals where they can come over and then present their work. But there are notable writers that have broken the barriers, you know, of, of borders and, and, you know, and established themselves globally.
[00:02:54] Bairbre Flood: Mmm. Do you think the space in Ireland is quite welcoming of black writers? Or do you think there’s enough space, you know, for black writers in Ireland? What do you think about that?
[00:03:07] Neo Gilson: I would say that I came at a time where, you know, there were people that had pioneered the way for black writers to have visibility and for their voices to be heard. One such writer would be Melatu Uche Okorie. And the other one that her book was nominated for the best Irish writer, it’s Nithy Kasa.
So I would say that I came at a time where the landscape might have changed.
I’ve been told that before it had been difficult to get representation as an African writer into the literature scene. And I would also say that for myself getting an award, Artists in Residence Award through the Play It Forward introduced me to Skein Press. whose main focus is really to, to, to give writers from underrepresentative backgrounds a platform to really have their artistic voice to be heard.
So I would say that I came at a time where there are opportunities available for African writers.
[00:04:32] Bairbre Flood: Yeah, the Skein Press are amazing. I mean, ‘This Hostel Life’ I think it was groundbreaking in Ireland. I hadn’t read anything like that published in Ireland before. The writers they consistently choose to publish.
They’re just brilliant. And like you were saying, the Play It Forward Fellowship. There’s so many great writers that come out of that. benefited from it. So yeah, it’s good. It’s good to hear that.
MUSIC
Fanciful flight, mild and musty morning, nourishes my heart.
A walk in the park, clouds hanging in the air.
For golden seconds, my eyes carry a burden of beauty.
Wait, peacock butterfly, aflutter with the majestic wings.
Charming hooves captures my heart.
O morning that nourishes my heart, we should linger longer.
MUSIC
So that was my encounter with the Peacock Butterfly in a Park, Shalom Park, near Cork. And I was with my then four year old daughter and she was fascinated by it. So was I.
MUSIC
[00:06:08] Bairbre Flood: It’s beautiful. It’s a beautiful poem. There’s something so lovely about going for walks with young children.
[00:06:17] Neo Gilson: Yeah, it is, yeah.
[00:06:19] Bairbre Flood: You like, you see things through their eyes or something and it’s like, contagious or something.
[00:06:25] Neo Gilson: It is, you get a chance to see the world through their eyes. And you just get a chance as well to just let go of everything and just go with the flow.
So the second reading that I had prepared, it’s called, Mass of Moist Mud on Me. And this specific one got published by, by the Storm’s Journal of Literature and Art. So the inspiration about it was centered around seeing our bodies as sanctuary. And, and also, I think it was a time when I wrote it, it was a time when there was a lot of body shaming.
MUSIC
Mess of moist mud on me. I ride my body as an immortal bird, seen before sunset, bending, blending, intertwining with the waves of the wind. I ride my body as below it clouds, memories, dropping with blood, falling into a hollow. I see my body as a house of mirrors, filled with nature’s treasures. Shall we leave?
Orchards, pebbles, seashells, rosebuds, and feathers. I see my body as wrinkled skin. Kneading clay back to fertile. Wobbling. Spinning on the potter’s wheel. Turning round and round.
MUSIC
Diversifying the term of what beauty means. And, and just moving it away from just one, one scope.
[00:09:02] Bairbre Flood: Yeah. it’s like decolonizing the beauty standards. Even in mainstream stuff now.
[00:09:22] Neo Gilson: Definitely, definitely it is, it is.
I mean, even for, for, for things like having a mole and, and having in my own vernacular, we, we used to call it – it was called fire from the ancestors where a person would have a skin condition called vitiligo you know, discoloration of skin. Yeah. Before, it was something that was like, ah, this one, you know, people who had that kind of skin condition were normally classified in the community, in the African community as people that were chosen or having and it was just the month.
That that were set apart and chosen and had the fire, you know, of the ancestors. And they had a certain calling. And also in some other parts of Africa people with – albinos. were also kind of like discriminated against, and there was a lot of myth also against, but now we see supermodels, you know, coming and having with, with, with exactly, you know with, with, with those kind of features and, and making it acceptable and for me, I think that’s the step in the right direction.
I mean we should all as human beings just be tolerant of each other and, and accept one another and respect one another.
[00:10:48] Bairbre Flood: Yeah.
[00:10:51] Neo Gilson: And I see artistry as a vehicle really to, to really think about setting a platform where things that we’re uncomfortable with discussing are being discussed.
So I think different genres of art has played a pivotal role in doing just that.
MUSIC
Spaces.
Staring at the white walls. A kaleidoscope of emotions. Encircles me. They creeped.
Playing themselves out in scenes. Purple, blue, blurry, inward afflictions. an outside persecution. Just someone to enjoy my company. Hello, anybody. Is there someone out there? Digging deep into myself, found myself wanting to follow the moment, people, places, and things. Pebs, rainbows, unicorns, shooting star, noise, laughter, and rhythm.
The sting of solitude. She turns my face towards her. Mama! Birds singing. She points at the window. In limbo. I try to smile. I have many questions I need to ask myself. I have many to ask the world. Pacing up and down. I’m stopped. Dead in my tracks. There’s two taps on the door. I think dinner is served. Tray left outside the door.
Wait. There’s no one out there. I have many questions I need to ask myself. I have many to ask the world.
MUSIC
The background to writing this was At the height of, of COVID isolation, I was in isolation with my two year old daughter and we stayed in direct provision and the spaces allocated for, for isolation, were at City West. And there was nothing basically that you can, you can, you can see like in human.
The only interaction that you had of a human voice was either when it was time to give the readings of your temperature and when there was a tap at the door and the tray of food was left outside. And or unless you’re on your, on your phone, you know, talking to people on, on the phone. So, and there was, there were times where we could go out for a walk in the garden, but you had to follow a strict passage marked with signage.
So at that time there was a lot of turmoil, both within and outside, and just a lot of questions. That I think the world as well was asking themselves, hence I was saying there’s a line that says, I have many questions I need to ask myself and many to ask the world, because it seems like this COVID this pandemic was just imposed on us, you know?
During that time, my daughter actually, although she missed her friends, but she, was oblivious to what was happening, you know. She could still see the birds, the birds, and she could, you know, she could still appreciate that while we as adults, you know, you, you are more stressed.
[00:14:52] Bairbre Flood: It was a really scary time not knowing, and, and just very isolating.
I mean, I, did you, do you find direct provision anyway is quite isolating from the local community anyway?
[00:15:06] Neo Gilson: It is.
[00:15:07] Bairbre Flood: Even without COVID.
[00:15:09] Neo Gilson: Yes, it is. It is, it is. I think this poem also could speak to, to any, anyone or, or people that find themselves in, in places that are more institutionalized.
Mm. They, I think they could, they could relate to, to this poem
[00:15:33] Bairbre Flood: for sure. Even just waiting for asylum decisions and waiting just…
[00:15:37] Neo Gilson: Yeah, it’s a tedious, it’s a tedious wait. It’s a tedious wait really and, and affects one’s mental health. And for some of us, you know doing the arts, it’s like a lifeline, you know.
You find something bigger than you that you can connect to, that keeps you grounded, that keeps you breathing and that gives you an expression. For me, for me doing the arts, it’s a lifestyle. It’s just something that I cannot do without.
And also meeting you, you know, a chance to, to meet you. I’ve been following you and, and I’ve also been listening to, to some of the people, the interviews that you featured as well. So yeah, so yeah, that’s, that’s it in, in a nutshell, you know I’m an African woman who’s just here to explore life and, and just be on this journey and see where it leads to and buckle up and sometimes just, you know, just risk it all a little bit.
And, and just go with the flow and, and, and swim upstream. So that’s me. That’s me in a nutshell.
[00:16:48] Bairbre Flood: Nice. Have you anything you want to plug? Is there anything – like if somebody wants to see more of your work where do they go? Or have you anything that I can direct people to?
[00:16:58] Neo Gilson: I’m actually working on a longer prose piece.
For now the only thing that it’s, it’s my Instagram page where I get to post what I’ll be doing if, if there’s some performance that I’ll be doing. I always put it out there so they can follow it. It’s Neo Gilson Artist. Yeah. So this year has been more basically focused on, on research and just delivering, working on a longer piece.
[00:17:35] Bairbre Flood: Cool. Where’s the residency. Do you want to say?
[00:17:39] Neo Gilson: Now I’m doing two residencies. I’m with Sample Studio, Radical Institute, and the one that finishes now in May, it’s with Graffiti Theatre.
[00:17:56] Bairbre Flood: Yeah, yeah.
[00:17:56] Neo Gilson: Yeah.
[00:17:58] Bairbre Flood: They’re both fantastic. Yeah. Sample Studios in Cork and Graffiti.
[00:18:02] Neo Gilson: Yeah. So, that’s what I’m pursuing.
[00:18:04] Bairbre Flood: Brilliant. I look forward to reading it when it’s done and we’ll keep in touch.
MUSIC
[00:18:09] Neo Gilson: Thank you so much. Have a good day.
[00:18:11] Bairbre Flood: Thank you so much, Neo.
[00:18:12] Neo Gilson: Okay. Thank you. Bye bye.
[00:18:17] Bairbre Flood: A huge thanks to Neo Florence Gilson. for talking to me and sharing her beautiful poetry with us.
Next week, my guests are poets from Dzaleka Refugee Camp in Malawi who are part of the African Youth Artistic Poetry Group.
So see you back here again next episode. Thanks to the Arts Council of Ireland for supporting this podcast. And thank you for listening. From me, Bairbre Flood, bye for now.
