This month, we are joined by artist Nicky Bird and Robin Baillie, Outreach Coordinator for NGS to explore Before and After Coal: Images and Voices from Scotland’s Mining Communities.
In 1982, American photographer Milton Rogovin came to Scotland to photograph Scottish miners at their pits, in their homes, and during their leisure time. Forty years on from the Miners’ Strike in 1984, Nicky Bird has updated Rogovin’s documentation by meeting with individuals and families connected with the original photographs.
More than an exercise in nostalgia, Before and After Coal is an innovative collaboration between Bird, the National Galleries of Scotland and mining communities. The project was initiated with a series of ‘Show and Tell’ events with people from across Fife, East Ayrshire and the Lothians. Those involved had so much to share about the content of Rogovin’s images as they recognised their fathers and mothers, grandpas and grannies, workmates and friends. Some even saw themselves 40 years on.
Participants posed for portraits in front of blown-up versions of the original images, donning orange miner’s boilersuits and helmets in tribute. They shared their own artefacts and memorabilia and reflected on what they saw. Their stories focus on themes of family, community spirit, work and place, expressing ideas and feelings about what has changed and what has endured. The results of this engagement are at the heart of this exhibition of new work created with Bird in response to Rogovin’s images.
