Informed by investigations into the Natural Sciences, religion, and ritualistic belief systems such as Louisiana Voodoo, Jo Coupe’s interest in the paranormal has led to periods of research into diverse environments ranging from the industrial to the historical and the domestic. As such, Coupe's work shifts towards an analysis of objects and materials, and of the physical, cultural and metaphorical forces at play that pervade the meanings we commonly ascribe to them. Her work takes on a political significance by conflating opposing positions of hard science with folk ritual and the stereotypically gendered environments of heavy industry and the home.
Jo Coupe was born in 1975 in Stoke, UK. She studied Fine Art at Newcastle University and at Goldsmiths, London. Previous exhibitions include: In and Out of Sight, UH Gallery, Hertfordshire; Easy does it Supercollider, Blackpool; Pertaining to Things Natural... Chelsea Physic Garden, London; An Archaeology 176, London; Fade Away And Radiate, Aspex Gallery, Portsmouth; Tatton Park Biennial, Give and Take at Firstsite, Colchester, You Shall Know Our Velocity at BALTIC, Gateshead. She lives and works in Gateshead, UK.
