Photographer Joanne Coates named official artist for the 2024 General Election

Joanne Coates’ work explores rurality and hidden histories through the mediums of photography, installations, and audio. She uses photography to question stories around power, identity, and locality. Participation and working with communities are an important aspect of her work.

Joanne Coates, 2024 Election Artist, said:

“The arts are a vital part of telling the stories behind key moments and the lives of local people, so I’m thrilled to be appointed as the Election Artist 2024. 

“I aim to cover the election over 30 days, travelling across the UK, attending speeches, marches, key fringe campaign events and rural canvassing along the election trail to produce artwork that will focus on portraiture, key details of place and hints of election paraphernalia”.

Joanne Coates’ work as the Election Artist will explore the unsung stories of everyday people behind the election in places across the country through photography, video and socially engaged practice.

In 2024 Coates was awarded with the Baltic Vasseur Arts Award and a Working-Class histories grant. In 2022 winner of the Jerwood / Photoworks award. Over the past five years she has achieved worldwide recognition from Magenta Flash Forward, British Journal of Photography, Unlimited, Arts Council England, Women Photograph, Firecracker and more.

Since 2001, the Speaker's Advisory Committee on Works of Art has commissioned an artist to follow and document each General Election, creating a unique permanent artwork for Parliament.

Elections have been the subject of paintings and engravings since the 18th century and recording each General Election has become an important part of the Committee's acquisition strategy. The artworks record the process, outcome and main themes of each General Election, ensuring both political and geographic balance.

Previous artists have included Turner Prize nominee Cornelia Parker and portraitist Jonathan Yeo. The official Election Artist for the 2019 General Election was Nicky Hirst, a London based artist working in a variety of media. Nicky's final artwork, 'There Was A Time 2019-20’, joined the Parliamentary Art Collection in 2022. For 2024, the Committee considered proposals from a range of artists working in different media, and appointed Joanne Coates following a formal interview process.