> ## Content Index
> Fetch the complete content index at: https://content.changingthenarrative.media/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further.

# Joanne Coates - Documentary Photographer
- URL: https://content.changingthenarrative.media/joanne-coates-documentary-photographer/
- Published: 2024-11-10T12:41:52.000Z
- Updated: 2025-11-24T14:15:51.000Z
- Description: What really struck me about Joanne Coates was not only her work, but how in her biography and elsewhere she identifies as a working class photographer. I find that statement very powerful.
- Author: Chris King
- Tags: #Documentary Storytellers, #Podcasts, Community, Documentary Ethics, Lived Experience, Reframing

Declaring one’s class shares with the world an aspect of our identity that might otherwise go unnoticed - it provides others with some idea of our lived experience and the struggles we may have faced – both generally speaking and as a documentary storytellers. 

As we discuss, the history of photography and filmmaking is deeply rooted in elitism, as well as colonialism, and the patriarchy – forces that continue to heavily influence these media to this day. 

The only way in which we’re going to be able to decouple visual storytelling from these destructive forces – if we ever will in the advent of AI – is to acknowledge it, talk about it, and develop the tools to build a more just and humane alternative.

This is exactly the purpose of these podcasts and the articles I write to accompany them.

I really hope you enjoy this episode, and it sparks dialogue about representation, and the role photography and filmmaking has had on maintaining a limited understanding of the forces that govern our societies, and maintaining existing injustices.

### **References**

[Don McCullin](https://donmccullin.com/don-mccullin/?ref=content.changingthenarrative.media)

[Simon Roberts](https://www.simoncroberts.com/?ref=content.changingthenarrative.media)

[Bell Hooks](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell%5Fhooks?ref=content.changingthenarrative.media)

[Chris Killip](https://www.chriskillip.com/?ref=content.changingthenarrative.media)

[Mark Neville](http://www.markneville.com/?ref=content.changingthenarrative.media)

[Anastasia Traylor-Lind](http://www.anastasiataylorlind.com/about?ref=content.changingthenarrative.media)

[Mark Fisher](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark%5FFisher?ref=content.changingthenarrative.media) (author)

[Jeremy Deller](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeremy%5FDeller?ref=content.changingthenarrative.media)

[The oil machine](https://www.theoilmachine.org/?ref=content.changingthenarrative.media) directed by [Emma Davie](https://www.eca.ed.ac.uk/profile/professor-emma-davie?ref=content.changingthenarrative.media)

[Time span museum](https://timespan.org.uk/?ref=content.changingthenarrative.media) – [Beatrice: Transition Under Petrocapitalism](https://timespan.org.uk/programme/exhibitions/beatrice-transition-under-petrocapitalism/?ref=content.changingthenarrative.media) exhibition

[Margaret Mitchell](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret%5FMitchell?ref=content.changingthenarrative.media)

[Gareth Phillips](https://garethphillipsphotography.com/en/about?ref=content.changingthenarrative.media)

[Baltic Centre of Contemporary Art](https://baltic.art/whats-on/0P-joanne-coates-middle-of-somewhere/?ref=content.changingthenarrative.media) in Gatesend