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Jo Howell – Artist Biography

Jo Howell is a Sunderland-based photographic artist, cyanotype specialist, and creative disruptor whose work spans analogue, digital, community, and experimental art forms. With a practice grounded in accessibility, invention, and advocacy, she brings photography to life in unexpected and empowering ways—often in vivid Prussian blue.

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Artistic Approach & Philosophy

Jo’s creative process begins with light, chemistry, and curiosity. A self-described “manipulator of light, time and paper,” Jo pushes photography beyond its traditional limits, fusing it with printmaking, sculpture, community performance, and textiles. She often works with the cyanotype process for its tactile, intuitive quality—producing images that are as much object as photograph.

“Photography isn’t just clicking a button—it’s sculpture, chemistry, performance, painting, storytelling. I want it to breathe.”

“I’m not here to make work that’s neat—I’m here to make work that feels alive.”

Jo treats photography not as a fixed discipline but as a porous space between science and emotion, documentation and expression. Her work deliberately blurs the lines between what is “art” and what is “photography,” inviting people to reimagine both.

“Cyanotype is magic. It’s the universe giving you an image through sun and time.”

“Art should belong to everyone. If I can create a space where someone who’s never picked up a brush feels bold enough to make something—then I’ve done my job.”

Jo’s commitment to access also shapes her process. Living with chronic pain and fibromyalgia, she chooses materials and methods that are low-toxicity and sensory-safe. Her work is both a personal survival strategy and an invitation for others to join in creative experimentation— whatever their physical or social barriers.

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Key Projects & Exhibitions

Over the past decade, Jo has created bold, participatory art across galleries, streets, festivals, and digital spaces. Her major projects include:

• #WeAreExperimenting (2018): A six-month Sunderland-wide engagement using cyanotype and pinhole photography in public workshops, schools, and unexpected spaces—reaching 1,200+ participants.
• Look & Inspire (2015–2018): A pinhole photography project combining community storytelling with public exhibitions at Sunderland Museum & Winter Gardens and Hartlepool’s Artrium.
• #Untitled10 (2019): A commission with The Bowes Museum exploring the legacy of Mary Eleanor Bowes through experimental cyanotypes and botanical themes.
• The Big Picture (2012): A collaborative public art piece during the Cultural Olympiad, fusing community ceramics and photography in Sunderland’s Aquatic Centre.
• Maverick Beyond (Ongoing): Jo’s own multi-platform studio archive and blog where she reflects on art, activism, disability, and the role of the artist in public life.

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Art as Activism & Legacy

Jo’s creative work is inseparable from her social mission. She is a strong advocate for arts access, regional equity, and the creative voice of working-class and disabled artists.

“I didn’t wait for permission. I kicked down a wall and built my own gate.”

She co-founded a COVID-era benevolent fund with Artists’ Union England and is an active campaigner for the Save the National Glass Centre movement, speaking truth to power in defense of Sunderland’s creative heritage.

“My art isn’t just about image—it’s about voice. About saying: we’re here, we matter, and we make things that are beautiful, complicated, necessary.”

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Selected Quotes to Define Her Vision

• “I make art like a scientist and protest like a poet.”
• “Every print is an experiment. Every mistake is an idea.”
• “The blue of cyanotype is memory, science, protest, and magic all rolled into one.”
• “I grew up being told that art wasn’t for me. Now I teach people to take up space with it.”
• “Photography is how I understand pain, beauty, time, place—and how I help others do the same.”

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In Summary

Jo Howell is not just a photographer—she’s a creative agitator. Her work challenges the hierarchies of art, embraces science and error, and builds inclusive platforms for people often left out of traditional narratives. Whether she’s creating cyanotypes in a city square or teaching photography in a pop-up lab, Jo’s art radiates one clear belief:

“We are all artists. We just need someone to hand us the paper and say: try.”

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