A window into contribution of black miners
NOTTINGHAM GLASS ARTIST SAYS IT WAS AN ‘HONOUR’ TO WORK ON THE PROJECT
A NOTTINGHAM-BASED artist has made a stained-glass window depicting a black miner to highlight the contributions men from the Caribbean made to the mining industry in the UK.
Stella Chadwick, a glass artist based in Forest Fields, was commissioned by the Black Miners Museum Project - also based in Nottinghamshire - to produce the glasswork.
It shows a miner based of images seen from the 1960s wearing a hard hat fitted with a light and carrying a gunpowder container which would have been used to blast rock underground.
Stella said: “I was really pleased to be asked to be part of this and I think the glass was a good medium to use because it commands respect and will be looked at.
“I wanted people to see a story behind the man here and so miners like him can be honoured.
“The minerals named around him are those that are still mined today around the world and you can see the lamp on the miner’s belt. “Most people, including myself, aren’t too familiar with the contributions of black miners so this was a great way to be able to honour them.
“We started in March and then when the Black Lives Matter protest kicked off I felt so pleased to be able to appreciate black contributions in this way.”
Norma Gregory, a mining historian from Gedling who has focused on the experience of black miners and is a organiser at the Black Miners Museum Project, said: “This project is an example of how we can re-present mining history to show what it was like then and eventually we want to find a permanent home for it when it comes back to Nottingham.”