Current
I am currently working on Love After All, a multimedia work of visual poetry and sonic art intended to bring a message of hope for those at risk of suicide or self-harm. The project will be inspired and informed by interaction and dialogue with members of my local community. This project is funded by a grant from Kent County Council’s ‘Hope’ Community Arts Fund. The work will be exhibited in July 2023 as part of a showcase which “…will coincide with this year’s Baton of Hope journey which is designed to be the biggest suicide awareness and prevention initiative the UK has seen, opening up necessary conversations and prompting appropriate actions – bringing Hope to those who need it”.
If you would like to contribute to this artwork, click here
Digital cover art for Love After All by Joe Inkpen
I am also currently working on lyrics for a Covid-19 memorial project When The World Stood Still with composer and sound artist Emily Peasgood for Illuminate Productions. This new artwork will acknowledge and commemorate the many lives lost through the Covid-19 Pandemic and will tour across the United Kingdom, it will feature sound and visuals.
Ongoing
Grateful for the opportunity afforded by a Francis Chagrin Award from Sound and Music in 2023, I am working towards turning my creative focus to developing chamber opera and music theatre intended for performance in intimate, black box spaces, exploring themes of loss, isolation and belonging.
I am also very excited about the idea of writing a podcast musical drama and am inspired by Chris Littler’s 36 Questions and Jonathan Sims’ The Magnus Archives which isn’t a musical (yet), but oh, fellow fans – imagine if it was!
Past
I have worked on various projects with sound artist and composer Emily Peasgood, including I Would Rather Walk With You which opened on Saturday 25th March 2023, When I Grow Up I Want To Be A Ship (a space arts, 2022), Requiem for Crossbones (Illuminate Productions, 2018), Katherine (Art in Romney Marsh, 2019) and Never Again (full score & lyrics here)(Sea Folk Sing – Ideas Test, 2018) which was nominated for an Ivor Novello in 2019.
Before losing a lot of my hearing, I enjoyed writing jazzish songs with guitarist Richard Eady, and performing them with our band DaylightSaving. Our songs were to jazz as goblins in tutus are to ballet.
The EP featuring this track was recorded in April 2012 in a crazy one day session by Ian Button (Thrashing Doves, Death in Vegas), after a month of no rehearsal, just for fun, to celebrate having been a band together. The artwork is a picture of us on stage at Canterbury Sounds New Contemporary Music Festival, where we jammed with the legendary Caravan in March 2012.