Miners’ strike of 1984
◆ It is a tribute to Scotland’s mining history, told by those who shaped it, writes Alison Campsie
The 40th year of the miners’ strike in Scotland is marked in a new exhibition in Edinburgh which put those at the heart of the industrial battle at the centre of the exhibition.
Before and After Coal: Images and Voices from Scotland’s Mining Communities features some of the most striking photographs ever taken of the deeply divisive industrial unrest that tore families and communities apart as workers fought for their jobs, their pits and their way of life.
More than 70 objects fill the Robert Mapplethorpe Photography Gallery and the adjacent Upper Great Hall in the Scottish National Portrait Gallery until September 15 with photos, banners and video brought together in a “tribute to Scotland’s mining history, told by those who shaped it, lived it, and continue to be impacted by it,” the gallery said.
Crucially, stories from Scottish miners and their families embroiled in the strike are told 40 years after industrial action was called by the National Union of Mineworkers against the planned closure of 20 pits by the National Coal Board.
By 12th March, half of the UK’S 185,000 miners were out on strike and on picket lines, protesting about the potential loss of 20,000 jobs across the country. As the anniversary is marked, artist Nicky Baird has revisited photographs taken by American photographer Milton Rogovin who captured some of the most arresting images of Scotland’s miners.
The project, Mine workings, led Ms Bird to meet with mineworkers and the families connected to the original images with many meetings held in former mining communities in Fife, East Ayrshire and Lothians.
Ms Bird said: “It has been a real privilege working with such a range of brilliant individuals and community groups across Ayrshire, Midlothian and Fife. The generosity of time and willingness to share stories, memories, and experiences with me has been incredible.
“Without them, it would not have been possible to retrace the journey that Milton and Anne Rogovin made in 1982but more than that-to understand what this means today. There has been a very real and urgent sense that ‘the time is now’ to make sure that mining history and its legacies, in all its complexity, is not forgotten.”
Former miners and their families posed for portraits in front of the original Rogovin images, some donning orange overalls and helmets in tribute to their fathers, uncles, past workmates and friends.
One image, Place and Return, shows Jim Rutherford of East Ayrshire, who was photographed by Rogovin during his visit to Scotland and now captured by Nicky Bird.
Displayed together, the images show not only changes brought with the disappearance of an industry – and the continuation of people and place.
Anne Lyden, Director-general at the National Galleries of Scotland said: “Working with Scotland’s mining communities on this remarkable project has sparked a new way of creating an exhibition. It was integral that Before and After Coals should be created by the people who have experience of living and working in the mining communities.”