Zürcher Nachrichten - Snap poll: Photographer takes artistic look at UK election

EUR -
AED 4.058861
AFN 79.00939
ALL 100.974115
AMD 432.428841
ANG 1.978272
AOA 1012.226903
ARS 1187.175542
AUD 1.746247
AWG 1.989093
AZN 1.880658
BAM 1.955555
BBD 2.230936
BDT 134.253157
BGN 1.961155
BHD 0.416501
BIF 3233.933929
BMD 1.105052
BND 1.476395
BOB 7.635216
BRL 6.22166
BSD 1.104922
BTN 94.320752
BWP 15.291313
BYN 3.615862
BYR 21659.014183
BZD 2.21944
CAD 1.557267
CDF 3174.813796
CHF 0.948906
CLF 0.027344
CLP 1049.313151
CNY 8.04649
CNH 8.045113
COP 4594.816202
CRC 556.70944
CUC 1.105052
CUP 29.283871
CVE 112.770562
CZK 25.066442
DJF 196.389745
DKK 7.461707
DOP 69.722659
DZD 147.098993
EGP 55.907594
ERN 16.575776
ETB 143.327454
FJD 2.558089
FKP 0.851683
GBP 0.84348
GEL 3.03928
GGP 0.851683
GHS 17.126209
GIP 0.851683
GMD 79.038116
GNF 9565.328108
GTQ 8.528775
GYD 231.185971
HKD 8.594706
HNL 28.454863
HRK 7.535013
HTG 144.592937
HUF 403.023747
IDR 18503.759939
ILS 4.091458
IMP 0.851683
INR 94.240526
IQD 1447.617785
IRR 46522.678492
ISK 144.496316
JEP 0.851683
JMD 174.064284
JOD 0.78337
JPY 161.413849
KES 143.105696
KGS 95.820807
KHR 4378.215228
KMF 497.835829
KPW 994.606287
KRW 1604.170297
KWD 0.339991
KYD 0.920697
KZT 553.85779
LAK 23935.420889
LBP 98957.383642
LKR 328.13362
LRD 220.468539
LSL 20.742047
LTL 3.262931
LVL 0.668435
LYD 5.331868
MAD 10.528378
MDL 19.731371
MGA 5149.541261
MKD 61.535097
MMK 2320.005256
MNT 3860.452182
MOP 8.85349
MRU 44.03655
MUR 50.136283
MVR 17.01675
MWK 1917.81618
MXN 22.028877
MYR 4.908663
MZN 70.623996
NAD 20.741992
NGN 1698.464547
NIO 40.63829
NOK 11.411316
NPR 150.915734
NZD 1.907507
OMR 0.425441
PAB 1.105042
PEN 4.053881
PGK 4.462231
PHP 62.976871
PKR 310.076942
PLN 4.224782
PYG 8865.486845
QAR 4.023506
RON 4.976928
RSD 117.175185
RUB 92.679685
RWF 1564.75327
SAR 4.145948
SBD 9.189977
SCR 15.804025
SDG 663.580778
SEK 10.793926
SGD 1.47491
SHP 0.868397
SLE 25.140064
SLL 23172.383743
SOS 631.535286
SRD 40.389667
STD 22872.340011
SVC 9.669003
SYP 14368.657968
SZL 20.742014
THB 37.804042
TJS 12.028089
TMT 3.867681
TND 3.422898
TOP 2.588144
TRY 42.003353
TTD 7.491436
TWD 36.52305
TZS 2939.437693
UAH 45.620592
UGX 4026.621699
USD 1.105052
UYU 46.678669
UZS 14299.369301
VES 77.532105
VND 28515.860255
VUV 136.550574
WST 3.130427
XAF 655.747375
XAG 0.03469
XAU 0.000355
XCD 2.986458
XDR 0.827829
XOF 664.684031
XPF 119.331742
YER 271.455853
ZAR 20.722265
ZMK 9946.780419
ZMW 30.691827
ZWL 355.826211
  • RBGPF

    -0.2800

    67.72

    -0.41%

  • RYCEF

    0.0200

    9.8

    +0.2%

  • CMSC

    -0.2400

    22.26

    -1.08%

  • BCC

    -7.4400

    94.63

    -7.86%

  • NGG

    3.6100

    69.39

    +5.2%

  • RIO

    -1.4700

    58.43

    -2.52%

  • VOD

    0.2500

    9.37

    +2.67%

  • BCE

    0.8400

    22.66

    +3.71%

  • SCS

    -0.7200

    10.74

    -6.7%

  • RELX

    0.4600

    51.44

    +0.89%

  • CMSD

    -0.1600

    22.67

    -0.71%

  • JRI

    -0.2200

    12.82

    -1.72%

  • AZN

    1.7000

    73.92

    +2.3%

  • GSK

    1.3700

    39.01

    +3.51%

  • BP

    -2.4700

    31.34

    -7.88%

  • BTI

    1.6700

    41.92

    +3.98%

Snap poll: Photographer takes artistic look at UK election
Snap poll: Photographer takes artistic look at UK election / Photo: Daniel LEAL - AFP

Snap poll: Photographer takes artistic look at UK election

Her brief: criss-cross the United Kingdom and make a politically and geographically-balanced piece of art about its general election campaign.

Text size:

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.

J.Hasler--NZN