For this episode we had the pleasure of speaking to Imogen Bright Moon, an artist-maker who uses spinning and weaving processes to transform raw materials into exquisitely crafted textile objects. Her contemporary weave practice combines traditional skills, and a storytelling sensibility, gathered from her background in costume design, fashion pattern cutting and puppetry, tailored to the needs of her young family.  Working exclusively with ethically sourced materials and suppliers, every step of the creation of her work – from field to final piece – is transparent and traceable. 

Imogen is also a writer and poet, and her work is recently included in Wagtail: The Roma Woman’s Poetry Anthology, edited by Jo Clement, and published by Butcher’s Dog Magazine with support from ERIAC, and available for purchase online.

You can visit Imogen's website https://brightmoon.co/ and follow her on Instagram @imogen.bright.moon. Keep an eye out for her and the other wonderful Romani artists part of the Gypsy Maker 5 project at https://www.romaniarts.co.uk/. 

Roma crush for the week is Gem Hall (they/them) and you can follow them on Instagram @tinyshrine. Gem Hall has an upcoming collaboration with The Living Altar, on Instagram @thelivingaltar, that we're all looking forward to as well!

Thank you for listening to Romanistan podcast.

You can find us on Instagram @romanistanpodcast, and on Facebook under the same name, and on Twitter @romanistanpod

We started a Ko-fi fundraiser to help us expand. Our goal is to release 2 episodes a month, create video content, like an advice column and other treats, and we would also like to register as a nonprofit so we can produce content by other Romani & Sinti creators. We are hoping to cover production costs, like paying for our hosting site, website, editing and producing, and all the rest. We would love it if you could contribute and spread the word. The link, Ko-fi.com/romanistan, is in our bio on Instagram, and will be in the show notes

Please rate, review, and subscribe. It helps us so much. 

If you would like to advertise with us, email us at [email protected]. We offer sliding-scale for Romani, Sinti & related businesses, so reach out!

You can find Jess on Instagram @jezmina.vonthiele, and you can find Jess’ vintage and curiosities shop Evil Eye Edit on Instagram @evileyeedit & Etsy.

You can find Paulina Verminski on Instagram @_paulina_v_ and at https://romaniholistic.com/. Follow Paulina’s store, Romani Holistic, in Corona Del Mar, CA, on Instagram @romaniholistic 

Romanistan is hosted by Jessica Reidy and Paulina Verminski

Conceived of by Paulina Verminski

Edited by Cherub

With Music by Viktor Pachas

And Artwork by Elijah Var

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