About The Exhibition
Belfast Exposed is delighted to be hosting the Jerwood/Photoworks Awards 4 Touring Exhibition from 6th April – 20th May 2023.
Since 2015, the Jerwood/Photoworks Awards have provided a major opportunity for UK-based artists on a biennial basis. Specifically for artists in the first ten years of their careers and who use photography in their work, the Awards encourage the creation of new work and provide a significant milestone in an emerging artist's career.
The current awardees are Heather Agyepong and Joanne Coates.
'ego death' - Heather Agyepong
British Ghanaian visual artist Heather Agyepong has developed a new work for the Awards, entitled ‘ego death’, inspired by Carl Jung’s concept of ‘The Shadow’, it is a journey of discovery, exploration and acceptance of the self.
Seeking to unpick and discover the hidden aspects of her own personality, Agyepong's work dissects issues of shame and repression through a series of double-exposed self-portraits and mixed media, to reveal hidden aspects of her true self. Exploring techniques including free writing/painting, observation, and self-reflection, Agyepong has produced twelve self-portraits using double exposure to create an arresting new visual language where her shadow characters are revealed.
ego death is a project about self-discovery, imperfection, compassion, and radical acceptance.
'The Lie of the Land' - Joanne Coates
Joanne Coates is a visual artist and documentary photographer working in the North East of England. Her new work The Lie of the Land, addresses the erasure of contemporary working-class histories and culture in the countryside.
Coates works at the intersection of socially engaged practice and traditional British documentary photography. The Lie of the Land explores the erasure of contemporary working-class histories and culture in rural communities. Based on 12 months of socially engaged work with twelve women living and working in rural or agricultural settings in the North East of England, and who identify as working class, The Lie of the Land tells the long-ignored social history of gender and class in these settings. Images, objects and spoken word testimony are combined to give an insight into the lives of these women that is both honest and revealing, as well as being tied to the artist's own personal experiences of being a part of the communities she documents.
'Our partnership with Photoworks has been further established through the Jerwood/Photoworks Awards 4 Exhibition coming to Belfast Exposed this year. Both organisations understand that investment and commitment in early career artists is required to give them the opportunity to hone their skills and realise their ambitions. Heather Agyepong's work drawing attention to black mental health is impactful and aids our understanding of racism and associated mental health issues. Meanwhile, Joanne Coates' work focused on the female working class voice in a community context is thought provoking and relevant in contemporary terms. Both are artists of the future and the here and now. It is important to bring them to bring them to Northern Ireland audiences'.
- Deirdre Robb, Director, Belfast Exposed
The Artists
Heather Agyepong Joanne CoatesHeather Agyepong is a British Ghanaian visual artist, performer/actor and maker, whose work focuses on mental health and wellbeing, invisibility, the diaspora and the archive. An artist of international reputation, Heather’s work combines lens-based practices and performance art. She was nominated for the South Bank Sky Arts Breakthrough Award 2018 and awarded the Firecracker Photographic Grant 2020. Her work is present in the collections of institutions including Autograph ABP, Centre National des Arts Plastiques, Hyman Collection, New Orleans Museum of Art, Bristol Museum & Art Gallery and Mead Art Museum.
Joanne Coates is a working class visual artist working with the medium of photography. She lives and works across the North East of England. Coates explores rurality, social histories of class, and inequalities relating to low income in her work, through photography, installations, and audio. She was first educated in working-class communities, and then at London College of Communication (Hons). Her practice revolves around process, participation, and working with communities. She is interested in questioning stories around power, identity, wealth, and poverty. Her work has been exhibited in the UK and internationally including at The Royal Albert Hall, Reveal-T Photography Festival, Cork Photo Festival and Somerset House.
Acknowledgements
Belfast Exposed is supported by Belfast City Council and the Arts Council for Northern Ireland. This exhibition is a touring exhibition, supported by Jerwood/Photoworks.