Joanne Coates: Cornish Gold – Custodians of the Soil
12 September - 31 October 2026
Kestle Barton presents a new exhibition by Joanne Coates, developed during a year-long residency from November 2025 to November 2026 in collaboration with the surrounding community in south west England.
Custodians of the Soil engages with a broad spectrum of people, landscapes and farms at the forefront of a transition towards nature-friendly agriculture. Created by artist and farmworker Joanne Coates, the project centres those who work in close relationship with the land, cultivating livelihood alongside care for the environment.
Through photography, and an expanded approach to documentary practice, Coates offers a grounded portrait of contemporary British farming, focusing on farm workers, land access and rural life. Rather than presenting an idealised rural image, the work attends to the often unseen labour that sustains these landscapes.
Developed through sustained engagement with farmers and flower pickers on the Lizard Peninsula, the exhibition brings together a new body of photographic work made in dialogue with those whose knowledge and experience shape the land. The project reflects on seasonal rhythms, working lives and the relationship between people and place.
Drawing on her own experience working in agriculture, including milking cows on her partner’s family farm in the Yorkshire Dales, Coates brings an informed and attentive perspective to her subjects. Her practice combines documentary photography with rural storytelling, considering how acts of looking and listening might deepen our understanding of the land that sustains us.
This residency continues Kestle Barton’s ongoing programme exploring rural life, land use and community through contemporary art.
