Coates is a North of England based documentary photographer with her main projects based within the rural environment. She tries to capture working class life and communities. To do this she participates in her subject’s lives. Her portraits mostly have a direct contact with the subject but based heavily within their environment, be that inside the home or out in the community both rural and urban landscape.
One of her aims is to provide a voice for the rural community and those without a voice, class inequality and storytelling. Highlighting isolation and the issues of living in rural locations. She considers photography as a vehicle to tell her story and get the viewer to ask questions and move them to make a social change. In the podcast cited below she discusses how she can’t make the change but can highlight it to others, as with many voices change can occur.
In an interview with Women Photograph (2018) which I came across during my search when asked about her relationship with her subjects, her answer really rang true to my own approach:
‘I like to build relationships. I have a strong respect for those people that come together and allow me to photograph them. I am a natural introvert, so it takes me time to connect, but I love to listen to people’s stories. The images are almost secondary. Those stories people tell me inform the images I proceed to make. It cannot always work like this, of course, but it’s my preferred way. The time that people give me is a gift, and I understand they are taking a chance on me. I like to be honest and clear about what I’m doing, and why. I think about these things quite a lot. I feel very protective of and responsible for those that I photograph’.
Bibliography
Accessed 26/10/2020
https://www.jorebeccacoates.com/about
Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpGAnI9rKVU
Interview: https://www.ffoton.wales/interviews/2019/3/joanne-coates
Interview Women Photograph: https://www.womenphotograph.com/news/2018/12/9/women-talk-joanne-coates
Michele Usher 