Further Afield is an ambitious, disabled-led project made up of interviews and written texts which explores the work of disabled artists who are rurally based or whose creative practices are rooted in rural settings.
The programme seeks to celebrate the work of disabled artists and question what we expect to find in rural art, striving to broaden the current understanding of what the rural embodies, who experiences it, and what kinds of art is made there.

About the conversation:
In the fifth episode of the series, Bella Milroy speaks to Joanne Coates, a working-class visual artist who lives and works across the North East of England. They discuss Joanne’s substantial catalogue of work that explores working class culture and community in rural spaces, how disability, rurality and class intersect, and the motivations, challenges and rewards of establishing creative community in rural settings. 

Accompanying this recording is a wonderful text written in response to the conversation by Louisa Adjoa Parker. You can find where to read it on the Level Centre website, where you can find out more about the programme as well as accessing the transcript of the interviews: https://levelcentre.com/further-afield-2024/

Further Afield is a project supported by Arts Council England, Level Centre, Shape Arts, Derbyshire Libraries, Haarlem Artspace, Arts Derbyshire and Wysing Arts Center.

Further Afield interview with Joanne Coates

Biologists have long been curious to know whether giraffes produce any substantial sounds. Audio recordings from three giraffe houses in European zoos suggest they do

Further Afield interview with Joanne Coates

Bella.Milroy

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