MATEWAN, WV (LOOTPRESS) – The West Virginia Mine Wars Museum is holding a reception for out latest exhibit, Entirely Preventable: The Toxic Legacy of Silica Dust from Hawks Nest to Black Lung, is following the 100 year trajectory of a disease known all too well to the coalfields through the lenses of three photographers.
“This exhibition serves as a visual record of what has been described as one of the worst industrial medical disasters in American history,” said Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer Stacy Kranitz, who curated the exhibit. “Across generations, these photographs trace a continuous struggle: workers fighting to make visible a disease that should never exist.”
The work, staged inside the Museum’s Solidarity Gallery, begins with a visual retelling of the Hawk’s Nest Disaster (1930-1931). Photographer Raymond Thompson Jr., followed by the
seminal images of former United Mine Workers Journal Photographer Earl Dotter follow the narrative, capturing the “first wave” of the Black Lung movement in the 1970s. Krantiz’s work takes us to the present day.
“Black Lung is not some old man’s disease,” said Executive Director Mackenzie New Walker. “We hope this exhibit sparks conversation, as any good art should, and serves as a call to action for the friends, families, and communities who are fighting to breathe.”
Join us on June 20 as we pay tribute to those who have lost their lives to silicosis and black lung and uplift the people who have fought for miners’ occupational safety and health. We will also be hosting live music and roundtables with speakers who have been a part of the modern movement for black lung protection, benefits, and advocacy.
Speakers include:
Chris Williamson, former Assistant Secretary for the Mine Safety and Health Administration who was instrumental in the passage of the Silica Rule which would lower the permissible exposure limit of respirable crystalline silica.
Evan Smith, Advocacy Director at AppalReD Legal Aid who has been fighting in the courts for miners’ Black Lung Benefits for over a decade.
Danny Whitt and Terry Steele of United Mine Workers of America Local 1440 who worked with their fellow union members to author a bill that would create a state black lung program that would provide $300 in monthly benefits for West Virginia miners with at least 10 years of coal dust exposure.
Gary Hairston, President of the National Black Lung Association, a retired coal miner with black lung who has testified before Congress and protested at the headquarters of the Labor Department and urged the current administration to enforce the Silica Rule.
Stacy Kranitz for a talk on the importance of having this exhibition and documenting the subjects in the work.
“This exhibit could not be more timely,” said Barbara Ellen Smith, Museum Board President and Author of Digging Our Own Graves. “View the photos and weep. Better yet, get angry. Demand that the federal government implement a strict silica standard for coal mines.”
This event was funded in part by an America 250 Grant through the West Virginia Department of Tourism. Photos of gallery available upon request.
