Joanne Coates

"The object, pen with tattoo The Portrait The vinyl " (2023)

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Joanne Coates documents rural working-class life in North East England through photography and installation. Her work gives voice to overlooked communities, focusing on visibility, gendered labour and class politics. These three pieces form a portrait of a place and people shaped by economic precarity and historical neglect. She collaborates closely with rural subjects, creating honest and evocative images that resist romanticism. Her perspective challenges dominant narratives about the countryside, offering a grounded, feminist lens. Coates explores whose stories are preserved and valued through everyday tools, portraits and audio. Each work foregrounds the labour and resilience of rural existence.