Preview: Franki Raffles | Joanne Coates

Franki Raffles: Photography, Activism, Campaign Works

Northumbria University Gallery, Level 3

Presenting the first major retrospective exhibition of feminist, activist, social documentary photographer Franki Raffles (1955–1994). Raffles documented the lives of women in the UK, predominantly in Scotland, and during travels with her family in the 1980s across the former Soviet Union, China, Zimbabwe and Israel. The exhibition concentrates on her astonishing creative output over a period of ten years from 1984–94 when she was most active, taking around 40,000 images.

This exhibition and its production has been made possible with the generous cooperation of the Franki Raffles Estate, University of St Andrews Libraries and Museums (Photographic Collections), Edinburgh Napier University, and Spectrum Photographic.

The exhibition will be accompanied by a new publication supported by a Publications Grant from the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art and Edinburgh Napier University. Pre-orders will be taken at the preview event.

Joanne Coates: Middle of Somewhere | The Vasseur Baltic Artists' Award

Level 2

Joanne Coates presents a major body of new photography work building on themes around class, gender, inequality and the rural. Coates has been collaborating with participants to explore parallels between people and places, delving into questions around climate change, the cost of living crisis, disparities of wealth and the impact on low income communities. 

Joanne Coates’ exhibition is supported by The Vasseur Baltic Artists’ Award, in memory of the late Isabel Vasseur, an admired figure who inspired a generation of curators and artists with her fearless approach to putting art in the public realm. Through the 2024 Award, Baltic Legacy Patron, Vasseur continues to support the growth of contemporary art.