(This talk re-arranged from 15/11/2024)
Joanne Coates is a visual artist whose work explores rural working-class identity, ecological change, and class politics.
Her socially engaged practice is grounded in photography, installation, and collaboration with communities across the UK.
Her socially engaged practice is grounded in photography, installation, and collaboration with communities across the UK.
Coates has received international recognition including the Jerwood/Photoworks Award, the Hopper Prize, and the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art’s Vasseur Artist Award.
In 2024, she was appointed Election Artist and joined the Speaker’s Advisory Committee on Works of Art for the House of Commons. Her residency with Maltings Visual Arts produced work around gender and agriculture. She continues to focus on overlooked voices in rural Britain.
Talk: Inequality and Power in the Countryside
The countryside is not a postcard — it is a place of deep divides, hidden struggles, and contested futures.Visual artist and photographer Joanne Coates dismantles the myths that shield rural Britain from scrutiny. She exposes how land ownership, class privilege, and political neglect create systems of exclusion and silence, leaving entire communities invisible.
Through striking imagery and powerful storytelling, Coates reveals the rural as a site of inequality and quiet resistance — a place where the battle for land, voice, and dignity continues to be fought.
Through striking imagery and powerful storytelling, Coates reveals the rural as a site of inequality and quiet resistance — a place where the battle for land, voice, and dignity continues to be fought.
This talk demands that we see the countryside not as an escape, but as a frontline — and asks: who has the right to belong?
More about Joanne Coates:
For more of Joanne's work see:
https://www.instagram.com/joannecoates_
and
https://www.joannecoates.co.uk/
There is also a BBC Radio Four Documentary Feature on her work at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09hr3bv
and
https://www.joannecoates.co.uk/
There is also a BBC Radio Four Documentary Feature on her work at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09hr3bv
Friday 16th May 2025
Meeting opens at 7.00pm for Tea, Coffee and chat.
Talk starts at 7.30pm prompt.
Meeting ends 21.00
NB The date and details of this meeting may change
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