Her brief: criss-cross the United Kingdom and make a politically and geographically-balanced piece of art about its general election campaign.
English photographer Joanne Coates has spent the last few weeks tailing politicians out canvassing, observing rallies, stump speeches and hustings, and chatting to community groups and voters on streets.
As well as collecting video clips and sound memos, the self-described “working-class visual artist” has captured snapshots of her travels on an 1960s Rolleiflex film camera given to her by her grandfather, which you have to look down into.
“It’s small, quiet, and allows for intimate moments with people. People kind of naturally relax in front of it,” she told AFP in Belfast, her latest stop on a dizzying tour of all corners of the UK.
“I search for little poetic moments, in-between spaces that speak of something deeper about what’s happening in a place,” she said, eyes constantly looking around for revealing subjects.
– ‘Honesty box’ –
She has been hauling a pink ballot box she calls an “honesty box” on her travels, encouraging voters to anonymously submit thoughts, poems or drawings about democracy, voting and general elections.
The opposition Labour party is tipped for victory, but Coates — from Yorkshire — said she tries “to see everyone in an open and equal way, and approach everything without preconceptions”.
Trailing candidates in the constituency of Ynys Mon on the Welsh island of Anglesey, one of the UK’s most keenly-fought marginal seats, gave her an accelerated insight into issues faced by the electorate.
Three parties — Welsh nationalists Plaid Cymru, Labour, and the Conservatives — are all in the running to win there on Thursday.
Coates attended a bilingual Welsh-English-language church service before visiting the site of a controversial planned nuclear power station that could bring much-needed jobs to a poor area, and finished the day with a trip to a deer farm.
“I had very different, sometimes surreal, experiences with each of the candidates all in one day, and got a feel for why it’s such a battleground constituency,” she said.
Other days saw her on Orkney, the remote islands off the northern coast of Scotland, where votes are collected by boat.
She met candidates across the political spectrum in their home constituencies in England, including parliamentary speaker Lindsay Hoyle and Conservative Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
– ‘Small gestures’ –
In Northern Ireland, she was struck by how landscapes and streets are marked and politicised with colours, flags and murals signifying pro-UK or pro-Irish unity sentiments.
“Some issues here are similar to the rest of the United Kingdom but just like in Scotland, England and Wales there are plenty of unique regional differences,” she said.
In a Belfast youth centre she sat in on workshops taking notes as young people discussed issues like mental health, drug addiction and paramilitary violence before listening as candidates pitched for votes at a hustings.
Later on, she watched a live televised debate between Northern Irish party leaders from the edge of a studio, peering at the audience as much as the politicians.
“I’m looking at the small gestures that people might make before they go on air, or while someone else is speaking,” she said.
After Thursday, when her “gathering” ends, Coates expects to complete her “multi-layered” work, which will go into the Parliamentary Art Collection in the months after the election.
“All the elements together are influencing and inspiring what will emerge when I’m back in my studio,” she said.
pmu/phz/fg
