It’s been a long time since I produced an episode – despite having recorded a number of interviews. The reason being that I was dealing with a serious health issue that took a significant toll on me, and I’m only now starting to get to grips with it.
I’m going to produce and publish the 4 interviews I carried out, because I owe it to the people I spoke to, who were kind enough to give up their time to talk to me and whose stories and work I really want to share. After that, I’m going to change things up a little bit.
I’ll continue producing podcasts, but in a different format, and I’ll be doing a lot more writing. I’ll also be setting up a couple of initiatives to support documentary storytellers on their journey.
If you’re listening to this, and would like to be kept informed of what I produce next, then please sign up to the newsletter via Substack or become a supporter via Patreon.
What really struck me about Joanne Coates was not only her work, but how in her biography and elsewhere she identifies as a working class photographer. I find that statement very powerful. It shares with the world an aspect of our identity that might otherwise go unnoticed. Declaring one’s class, provides others with some idea of our lived experience and the struggles we may have faced – both generally speaking and as a documentary storytellers. As we discuss, the history of photography and filmmaking is deeply rooted in elitism, as well as colonialism, and the patriarchy – forces that continue to heavily influence these media to this day. The only way in which we’re going to be able to decouple visual storytelling from these destructive forces – if we ever will in the advent of AI – is to acknowledge it, talk about it, and develop the tools to build a more just and humane alternative.
This is exactly the purpose of these podcasts, the articles I write to accompany them, and the platform I hope to build on these foundations.
If you would like to discuss any of the point raised, then please get in touch via Instagram or email me at chris@documentarystorytellers.com
References
Mark Fisher (author)
The oil machine directed by Emma Davie
Time span museum – Beatrice: Transition Under Petrocapitalism exhibition
Gareth Phillips
Baltic
Centre of Contemporary Art in Gatesend