Coronet Inside Out: Joanna Vestey & At The Bus

Photographic artist Joanna Vestey returns to Coronet Inside Out with MASKED, a series of limited edition prints created in collaboration with AT The Bus.

Masked: AT The Bus

Grayson Perry, Philip Pullman, Dawn French, Juliet Stevenson, Cornelia Parker and Jenny Saville are among 24 leading figures in the arts, education, communications and law, shown wearing their masks for a series of portraits by award-winning photographer Joanna Vestey.

Aiming to raise £150,000, all proceeds from the sale of the MASKED limited-edition prints will go towards the vital work of AT The Bus, a charity delivering a school-based programme of art as therapy to young people aged 7-18 in Oxfordshire and London. Sessions take place during the school day in a purpose-designed therapeutic studio space in a double-decker bus located in school grounds.

The portraits explore the theme of communication during COVID-19. Each sitter is shown in their own space, captured in a moment shared with Vestey abiding by the social-distancing regulations sitting two metres away, with pared back equipment and using only natural light.

Sitters:
Baroness Amos
Justin Audibert
Fiona Banner
Sir Harrison Birtwistle
Dawn French
Denise Gough
Krishnan Guru-Murthy
Baroness Helena Kennedy
Daniel Kidane
Joy Labinjo
Rich Miller
Cornelia Parker
Korky Paul
Grayson Perry
Philippa Perry
Sir Philip Pullman
Dr Janina Ramirez
Dame Zandra Rhodes
Jenny Saville
Andrew Scott
Juliet Stevenson
Camille Walala
Richard Wentworth
Paul Whitehouse

Click here to see the other work available to watch for free on Coronet Inside Out.

Joanna Vestey

MASKED is Joanna Vestey’s second project born out of Lockdown. In July 2020, she launched Custodians for Covid, a series of 22 photographs of London’s empty theatre spaces. The online print sale has already raised £140,000 to support the future of our theatres so greatly affected by the pandemic.

Joanna Vestey (1972) is a photographic artist based in Oxford. She studied photography at the Surrey Institute of Art and Design and at Bezalel Academy in Jerusalem and has an MA in Social Anthropology and Development from SOAS. Her work has been exhibited at The Ashmolean Museum, The Southbank Centre, Messums Gallery, Personal Structures/Open Borders, Venice Biennale (2017) and at Glastonbury Festival, as well as published in publications such as Le Monde, The Times and The British Journal of Photography. Her work is held in several collections including the National Portrait Gallery, London and a monograph of her work; Custodians, was published by the Ashmolean Museum. She has recently completed a practice led PhD at the European Centre for Documentary Research.

AT The Bus

AT The Bus offers a school-based programme of art as therapy to support the education, health and wellbeing of children and young people aged 7-18 in Oxfordshire. Group sessions take place during the school day in a purposely designed therapeutic studio space in a double decker bus located on school grounds.

AT The Bus students work in small groups led by experienced facilitators trained in The Beattie Method, a creative therapeutic intervention that supports mental wellbeing, alleviates anxiety, develops resilience and helps young people build their self-esteem, self-confidence and independence. The double decker bus offers a calm, safe space within the school site for students to access.