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Inside the Coal Mine
8 April 2010
The reports of the mining disaster in West Virginia have an unreal quality, like newspaper headlines from a distant era; one in which workers were but slightly elevated from the class of serfs, and a few more dead or damaged would have little effect on the march of progress. We all feel the deepest sympathy for the families of the miners lost, and like the recent disaster in Haiti, donations and condolences will be sent, and the event soon forgotten.
{Angry invectives are sure to follow this BLOG}
The corporate owner of the mine (and its CEO) is a bad actor on many levels, from mine safety to environmental disregard. Their acts of corruption harken back to the Teapot Dome scandal in scope, and exude a disregard for law and community that invite disbelief. And speaking of tea, it is no secret that West Virginia voted overwhelmingly in favor of the previous administration, as a condoner of business corruption with its relaxed mine safety enforcement.
Meanwhile, New York City is enjoying summer weather in early April, which is a direct effect of the stuff for which those miners died.
The reports of the mining disaster in West Virginia have an unreal quality, like newspaper headlines from a distant era; one in which workers were but slightly elevated from the class of serfs, and a few more dead or damaged would have little effect on the march of progress. We all feel the deepest sympathy for the families of the miners lost, and like the recent disaster in Haiti, donations and condolences will be sent, and the event soon forgotten.
{Angry invectives are sure to follow this BLOG}
The corporate owner of the mine (and its CEO) is a bad actor on many levels, from mine safety to environmental disregard. Their acts of corruption harken back to the Teapot Dome scandal in scope, and exude a disregard for law and community that invite disbelief. And speaking of tea, it is no secret that West Virginia voted overwhelmingly in favor of the previous administration, as a condoner of business corruption with its relaxed mine safety enforcement.
Meanwhile, New York City is enjoying summer weather in early April, which is a direct effect of the stuff for which those miners died.
Photographer J Henry Fair is best known for his Industrial Scars series, in which he researches our world’s most egregious environmental disasters and creates images that are simultaneously stunning and horrifying. His photographs captivate audiences, as they more
...Photographer J Henry Fair is best known for his Industrial Scars series, in which he researches our world’s most egregious environmental disasters and creates images that are simultaneously stunning and horrifying. His photographs captivate audiences, as they more closely resemble abstract paintings by Georgia O’Keeffe and Jackson Pollock than the disturbing scenes of actual reality that they depict. Mr. Fair’s work has been featured in segments on The TODAY Show, CNN, FOX News, and WDR German TV, as well as in most major publications, including National Geographic, TIME, New York Magazine, Harper’s Magazine, and GQ. Additionally, Mr. Fair’s work travels around the world in fine art exhibitions at major museums, galleries, and educational institutions.
Mr. Fair has an active lecture schedule, presenting photographic symposia to audiences in the US and abroad. Recent engagements include The Collegiate School, Bloomberg, Die Spedition, and Green Mountain College, where Mr. Fair will return this fall for an artist-in-residency. He gives readers a first-hand look inside the important issues he studies, writing and blogging about art and the environment, and is a regular contributor to the Huffington Post.
J Henry Fair supports a number of environmental organizations that share his commitment to changing destructive consumer habits and effecting positive change in our environment. He is co-founder of the Wolf Conservation Center in South Salem, NY, an organization that is dedicated to the protection of and education about the world’s wolf population.
Mr. Fair’s first book, The Day After Tomorrow: Images of Our Earth in Crisis will be released Fall, 2010, published by powerHouse Books in cooperation with Random House. His work is represented exclusively in New York City and Santa Fe by Gerald Peters Gallery.
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