On a recent visit to The Big Pit coal mine museum in Blaenavon, South Wales, I was overwhelmed by the atmosphere in the canteen. It was the original workers canteen and now used as the museums café. The atmosphere offered by the décor and layout allowed me to envisage the room full of tired and dirty miners on a break. But now it was empty, its past replaced, times have moved on.
I have put the following triptych together to capture these thoughts in an attempt to convey the social change mining has had on people and their communities. Ironically there is no human presence in these images.
The triptych are from the same location which can be identified by the green stripe tiles. The first image captures the place from the viewpoint of someone sitting at one of the tables. The décor is dated but there are a couple of modern items such as the flat screen TV on the wall and the fire exit signs. The second image captures a nostalgic view through the window and out to the mine and village beyond. If had another opportunity to take this shot I would use a smaller aperture to get the window sill tiles in focus. The third image is dominated by the mainly empty table apart from the lone condiments. There is also a restricted view of the hills outside.
The triptych idea was used by Paul Graham and one that I had first researched in EYV. The empty table image was inspired by an image in Graham’s A1, Great North Road (1981) work. On opening one of Graham’s books I was surprised by the similarity of some of his images of service station cafes and my images. I had obviously been influenced by his work.
My set of images are nostalgic conveying the loss of an industry and its social impact. Graham’s images on the other hand were contemporary but he had already identified the impact of motorways on roads like the A1. Graham’s work is politically influenced as is Joel Steinfeld’s. These photographers are an inspiration to me as I have an interest in the social impact of political decisions.
Martyn Rainbird 