South Yorks: New exhibition reflects the legacy of the miner’s strike in pictures

The latest Community Gallery exhibition at Doncaster Museum & Art Gallery is a poignant series of images by of local Barnsley, Doncaster and South Yorkshire pit sites by photographer Andrew Foley.
One of the pictures from Andrew Foley's new Coal Fields exhibitionOne of the pictures from Andrew Foley's new Coal Fields exhibition
One of the pictures from Andrew Foley's new Coal Fields exhibition

The photographs reflect the way that the local landscape has changed since the closure of many of the pits during the miner’s strike of 1984-85.

Andrew started recording images of the old pit sites in 2007 and says that the photographs reflect the ‘contrast between the current docile nature of these places and the hives of activity they once were, the concrete shaft-caps are like tombstones, a memorial to the spot where Britain’s energy was hauled from the earth.’

“My grandfather spent all his working life underground and I have always lived in a mining community, close to where the strike started,” he said.

“I remain constantly aware of how evidence of Britain’s heavy industry has steadily diminished, to the point where once-thriving workplaces now offer little acknowledgement of their past.”

The exhibition opens on Saturday, 1st March and runs until 12th April.

Related topics: