Since 2001, the Speaker’s Advisory Committee for Works of Art has appointed an official artist for each general election. The artist follows the campaign trail around the UK and produces an artwork or artworks based on their observations. The most recent commission went to Joanne Coates, who covered the 2024 British Election, with previous artists including Adam Dant, Cornelia Parker and Nicky Hirst.
I was commissioned in 2010, and Parliament have just made a film about the work I made. You can watch it here: https://heritagecollections.parliament.uk/exhibits/ea-2010/
I’m delighted to see that Joanne Coates has just been named as Parliament’s official Election Artist for the 2024 general election. Appointed by the Speaker’s Advisory Committee on Works of Art, she will observe the 2024 general election for the House of Commons and produce a unique work of art in response to her experience of the campaign.
Since 2001, the Speaker’s Advisory Committee for Works of Art has appointed an official artist for each general election. I was awarded the 2010 commission was awarded and in this online exhibition you can view some of my process of working, and see the final collection of 25 photographs capturing the election.
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You can find out more about previous election artists and artworks, which are part of the Parliamentary Art Collection, by using the links below.
2019 – Nicky Hirst. Visit our online exhibition to see ‘There Was a Time 2019-20′, and watch Nicky share her process for creating the sculpture.
2017 – Cornelia Parker RA created digital artwork for the 2017 election. Watch the pieces and find out more about how they were made in this online exhibition.
2015 – Adam Dant’s drawing, ‘The Government Stable’ is 226 x 166cm in size. Zoom into all the details and find out what it all means in our interactive online exhibition.
2005 – David Godbold uses drawings and translucency over documents and election paraphernalia to create his series ‘Forwards not Backwards’ – view each piece here.
2001 – Jonathan Yeo was the first election artist. His three-part painting ‘Proportional Representation’ depicts the three main party leaders in 2001. Each canvas is scaled according to the election results.
I recently had the pleasure of talking with Peter Holliday on his podcast, The Land Behind where he speaks with a range of guests including photographers, musicians and anthropologists as he explores questions of photography, perception and place.
My episode is titled ‘Landscape Representation as Social Commentary’ and I talk about my experience photographing England’s social landscape in the decade preceding Brexit.
You can listen in here: https://open.spotify.com/episode/3WqV34eTCTny5DjLz7VMkT?si=1dd8f4f2ab094aa7&nd=1
I recently gave an interview to The Urban Preshistorian about my Welcome to Little Britain artist poster collaboration with Flying Leaps. The article explores the problematic nature of Stonehenge and the structural injustices that it does to our prehistory.
You can read the article here: https://theurbanprehistorian.wordpress.com/2023/08/29/little-britain/
The Urban Prehistorian is a blog dedicated to recording my experiences of prehistoric sites and monuments found today within in urban contexts. In some cases altered, ruinous tangible remains of the prehistoric past are still visible for all to see. In other cases only the ghostly traces of what was once there are recoverable. The engagements people from all walks of life have with these interlopers from the past range from interest and care, to ambivalence or even violence. Many people simply don’t notice, or know, what lies beneath their town centres, under houses and back gardens. Some would not like to know. The tangible – and intangible – traces of the ancient past occasionally intersect with the contemporary world, with surprising or sometimes banal effects and it is such engagements that this blog will document.
Channel 4 News recently reported on my exhibition ‘How Did We Get Here? / Where Do We Go Now?’. You can view the interview with their Culture Correspondent Minnie Stephenson here.
The exhibition has also featured on The Guardian, in the FT Weekend Magazine (below), and on Chesire Live.
To mark the exhibition of my photographs created in Normandy and currently showing at Château de Flamanville (until September 19, 2021), the Rouen Normandie Photographic Center commissioned this short film of me discussing the project, whilst also making some new work around the Cotentin region.
You can watch the video here (07.38 mins): https://vimeo.com/580352780
An interview for Bob Books where I discuss my A Daily Sea series made during the recent Covid-19 lockdown:
https://www.bobbooks.co.uk/blog-post/a-daily-sea-interview-with-simon-roberts
I recently did an interview for My Modern Met about my Polyarnye Nochi series. Read it online here.
Recently I was interviewed by Gemma Padley for the Royal Photographic Society Journal as part of their Best Shots series ahead of my talk at RPS House, Bristol, in October.
You can download a pdf of the article here.