Ian Clark
Tower Regeneration
Since moving to South Wales nearly ten years ago I have been interested in the mining heritage of the valleys. My photographic journey started in 1968, and since then Documentary and Street Photography have become my principle genres and I often combine them by showing people at work.
In 2017 I completed a photographic documentary project titled “Coal, The Last Train from Tower to Aberthaw”. This followed the last year of a joint scheme between Tower Colliery Ltd. And Hargreaves Services PLC. to extract coal from the surface mine and send it by rail to supply the fuel for Aberthaw Power Station. The final week of production started in February 2017 and I produced a photo-book showing the four stages from coal extraction, loading on coal wagons, the power station operation and the final rail journeys.
Tower are now deep into the regeneration phase, restoring the landscape for future development by the Rhondda Cynon Taff Council. My current project ‘Coal – The Tower Regeneration Scheme’ follows on to document this phase of the scheme. My intention is to produce images showing the work in progress on the site set in contrast to portraits of some of the interested participants from the local community.
This work is part of the on-going series of representations of how we are dealing with the industrial landscapes in South Wales and all over the world. I am trying to communicate how the miners and local people feel about their mining heritage and the “Land of their Fathers”. Most of the people I have spoken to are very proud of the work done by the miners, but also of the landscape around them. I want to convey both these elements in my images.
Tower Regeneration
Since moving to South Wales nearly ten years ago I have been interested in the mining heritage of the valleys. My photographic journey started in 1968, and since then Documentary and Street Photography have become my principle genres and I often combine them by showing people at work.
In 2017 I completed a photographic documentary project titled “Coal, The Last Train from Tower to Aberthaw”. This followed the last year of a joint scheme between Tower Colliery Ltd. And Hargreaves Services PLC. to extract coal from the surface mine and send it by rail to supply the fuel for Aberthaw Power Station. The final week of production started in February 2017 and I produced a photo-book showing the four stages from coal extraction, loading on coal wagons, the power station operation and the final rail journeys.
Tower are now deep into the regeneration phase, restoring the landscape for future development by the Rhondda Cynon Taff Council. My current project ‘Coal – The Tower Regeneration Scheme’ follows on to document this phase of the scheme. My intention is to produce images showing the work in progress on the site set in contrast to portraits of some of the interested participants from the local community.
This work is part of the on-going series of representations of how we are dealing with the industrial landscapes in South Wales and all over the world. I am trying to communicate how the miners and local people feel about their mining heritage and the “Land of their Fathers”. Most of the people I have spoken to are very proud of the work done by the miners, but also of the landscape around them. I want to convey both these elements in my images.