Joanne Coates is a working class visual artist working with the medium of photography. She lives and works across the North East of England.
Her work explores rurality, hidden histories, and inequalities relating to low income through photography, installations, and audio. She uses photography to question stories around power, identity, wealth, and poverty. She was first educated in working-class communities, and then at London College of Communication (BA Hons Photography). Participation and working with communities are an important aspect of her work.
Joanne Coates’ early work focused on the fishing industry in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland. Over five years she followed the lives of the community in her work North Swells. The work was published by another place press in 2020.
Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally, including shows at The Baltic Centre for Contemporary art, Middlesbrough museum of Modern Art, Belfast Exposed, Jerwood Arts, The Arthouse, Somerset House, The Royal Albert Hall, Format photography Festival, Reveal-T Photography Festival, and Cork Photo Festival. Her work is often shown in site specific contexts in rural areas.
In 2022 Coates was the winner of the Jerwood / Photoworks award. Over the past five years she has achieved worldwide recognition from Magenta Flash Forward, British Journal of Photography, The British Council, Arts Council England, Women Photograph, Firecracker and more. In 2021 Joanne was a recipient of
