Joanne Coates: 'Cornish Gold - Custodians of the Soil'

Photographs by Joanne Coates exploring the lives and work of flower farmers and pickers on Cornwall’s Lizard Peninsula, and their relationship with the land. About Kestle Barton presents 'Cornish Gold: Custodians of the Soil', a new body of photographic work by Joanne Coates. The exhibition is the culmination of a year-long residency at Kestle Barton, undertaken from November 2025. Working closely with flower farmers and pickers on the Lizard Peninsula, Coates has spent the past year documenting the people whose labour shapes one of Cornwall's most distinctive seasonal landscapes. Although Cornwall produces the majority of the UK's daffodil crop, the lives and work behind the fields of flowers are seldom seen. Created through sustained conversations and time spent with those working across the local farming community, 'Cornish Gold' explores contemporary rural life from within. Through portraiture and documentary photography, Coates considers the relationship between people, land and agricultural labour, attending to the knowledge, care and resilience that sustain both landscape and livelihood. An artist and farmworker herself, Coates brings an informed and deeply empathetic perspective to her practice. Drawing on her own experience of agricultural work, she has developed this new body of work in dialogue with those whose lives and understanding of the land have shaped the project. Rather than presenting an idealised vision of the countryside, the photographs reflect on the everyday realities of rural working life and the communities that sustain it. This residency continues Kestle Barton's ongoing programme of commissioning artists whose work engages with rural life, land use and place. Situated on the Lizard Peninsula, Kestle Barton provides a setting for contemporary art rooted in its surrounding landscape, supporting artists to develop new work through sustained engagement with local communities. 'Cornish Gold: Custodians of the Soil' brings together the photographs produced during the residency, offering a considered portrait of contemporary farming in Cornwall and inviting reflection on the relationship between people, work and landscape. Read more Toggle Photography