The Coal Face is a study of the Welsh coal industry seen through the physiognomies of the workforce. Wales was once a world leader in coal production with over 600 collieries in South Wales alone. Today, all but a few traces of our recent history have been wiped away. The coal dust is gone. The mines demolished. Liquorice rivers run clear and the valleys are green. Scattered throughout the valley towns the workforce are in the shadows; older, wiser and growing infirm. The faces of these men are the key to our industrial past. Colliers from the Rhondda, The Rhymney, The Taff and the Ebbw sat for the intense studio sessions required to create the full 3-d portraits, which are accompanied by composer John Rea’s soundscape featuring Jones' recordings of the miners' voices and sounds of the region.
Portraits of former Welsh miners | Art and design | The Guardian
Mellard Lloyd, 95, a blacksmith in the Aberbargoed Colliery in the Rhymney Valley, South Wales.
Capturing sounds in the post-industrial sites of the South Wales Valleys.
Capturing sounds in the post-industrial sites of the South Wales Valleys.
Capturing sounds in the post-industrial sites of the South Wales Valleys.