Before and After Coal: Images and Voices from Scotland’s Mining Communities
Portrait gallery, Queen Street, Edinburgh
23 March – 15 September 2025 – Admission Free
It’s 40 years since the Miners’ Strike in 1984. To commemorate this historic event, a new exhibition at the Portrait gallery in Edinburgh explores the history and lasting impact of coal, through photographs and voices from Scottish mining communities.
Opening tomorrow (Saturday 23 March), Before and After Coal: Images and Voices from Scotland’s Mining Communities is the first exhibition of its kind to be held at the National Galleries of Scotland.
This free exhibition is a celebration of Scotland’s mining history, created in collaboration with mining communities from across the country, artist Nicky Bird and the National Galleries of Scotland. Support has been provided from the National Lottery through Creative Scotland, the players of the People’s Postcode Lottery and the Scottish Government.
Before and After Coal: Images and Voices from Scotland’s Mining Communities takes over the Portrait’s Robert Mapplethorpe Photography Gallery and the adjacent Upper Great Hall until 15 September.
There are over 70 objects to discover, including photographs, banners, contact sheets, personal mining memorabilia and video footage, all documenting real lives and lived experiences.
The exhibition is a tribute to Scotland’s mining history, told by those who shaped it, lived it, and continue to be impacted by it. Hear stories from miners about their work, families and the remarkable community spirit of mining towns and villages. Through film, audio and anecdotes, they, and those who live in the communities today, express their feelings about what has changed since 1984 and the legacy that has endured.
In 1982, American photographer Milton Rogovin came to Scotland to capture images of Scottish miners at their pits, in their homes and during their leisure time. Born in New York in 1909, Rogovin was one of America’s most significant social documentary photographers.
Initially training as an optometrist, he was profoundly affected by the Great Depression which swept across America throughout the 1930s. Turning to photography to express his views, Rogovin used his work as a medium to show the often-forgotten faces in society.
Now, artist Nicky Bird has revisited and updated Rogovin’s photographs through her project Mineworkings, meeting with former mineworkers and their families who were connected with the original images taken during Rogovin’s time in Scotland.
Originating from research starting in 2018, Mineworkings was granted support from Creative Scotland’s open fund for individuals in 2023, made possible with funds from the National Lottery.
Through community outreach work from 2021 to 2023, the National Galleries of Scotland also conducted a series of workshops and events with people from former mining communities in Fife, East Ayrshire and the Lothians.
Participants shared the stories behind Rogovin’s photos, as they recognised their fathers and mothers, grandpas and grannies, workmates and friends. Some even saw themselves, 40 years on.
During the National Galleries of Scotland’s workshops, former miners and their families posed for portraits in front of the original Rogovin images, some donning orange miners’ overalls and helmets in tribute.
These photographs, together with video footage, banners and other objects on display in the exhibition, tell the stories of life in Scotland, Before and After Coal. Local school students in former mining communities also contributed to the development of the exhibition, volunteering their thoughts about Scotland’s mining past and the impact it has had on them today and may have in the future.
See Milton Rogovin’s original photographs on display for the first time, side by side with Nicky Bird’s updated images, highlighting the stark contrasts and nostalgic similarities of a life before and after coal mining. Works on display include portraits of former miners such as Place and Return with Jim Rutherford, 2023.
Living and working in East Ayrshire, Jim Rutherford was photographed by Milton Rogovin during his visit to Scotland in 1982; an image Rutherford had long forgotten about and only saw for the first time during the Mineworkings project.
Striking a similar pose, Jim was photographed again, this time by Nicky Bird in 2023, over 40 years on from the forgotten Rogovin image. Displayed together, these images show not only the inevitable changes that are brought with time and the disappearance of an industry, but also the enduring similarities that shine through people and the places significant to their stories.
Visitors can also see work created for the exhibition by the community engagement participants and local school children within Scotland’s mining communities.
Reflecting on the past and considering the future, the participants have interpreted Scotland’s mining story in their own way through film, song, physical objects as well as iconic protest banners – a lasting and instantly recognisable element from the miners’ history.
The documentary film After Burn (2024), which presents the experiences of former miners and their families from Fife, Ayrshire and Midlothian, forms a central part of this community outreach work.
On display to the public for this first time, the film gives a first-hand account about what it was like to be a miner, or live within a mining community, and what has happened to those communities now the mines are gone.
The voices of younger people are also weaved into the exhibition, as they consider today’s challenges of global heating and online culture – in contrast to the miners past experiences. Harnessing their creativity and inspired by the mining roots of their hometowns, this new generation of school children have used ‘the art of protest’ and rap videos to express themselves.
The exhibition is accompanied by a free audio guide, which includes stories from former miners involved in the development of this exhibition and Paula Rogovin, Milton Rogovin’s daughter. Authentic anecdotes, reflective thoughts and infectious humour throughout the audio guide will elevate the messages behind the work on display, bringing visitors even closer to the people at the heart of this exhibition.
The commitment to community outreach will continue throughout the exhibition’s run, and into the future. Visitors to Before and After Coal will be able to record their thoughts, memories and feelings sparked by the exhibition on a memorial wall within the gallery space, building on the legacy of the Mineworkings project.
There will also be an opportunity to step into history and prepare for a day down in the pits with replica miners’ overalls and helmets available to try on.
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 at the National Galleries of Scotland.
“It was integral from the beginning that Before and After Coal should be created by the experts – the people who have experience of living and working in the mining communities across the country.
“This free exhibition is the story of mining in Scotland, told by those who lived it; real stories told by the people who are in them and reflections from generations who are still impacted by what’s gone before.
“From the initial show and tell sessions, through to the development and now opening of the exhibition, there has been an unwavering passion to harness the community spirit that is so important to those whose lives have been shaped by coal mining.
“Each participant is at the very heart of Before and After Coal, and it simply wouldn’t have been possible to bring this show to life without their input. Thanks to all of them for trusting us with their history, as well as the unwavering commitment, thoughtful insight and infectious humor that they’ve brought in abundance!
“We can’t wait for our visitors to discover the images and voices of the Scotland’s mining communities and hope they will join us in sharing their own memories of this important, and ever-relevant, era in Scotland’s history.”
Nicky Bird, artist and creator of Mineworkings 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 1982 – but 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.”
Before and After Coal: Images and Voices from Scotland’s Mining Communities opens at the Portrait gallery in Edinburgh on Saturday 23 March 2024 and is free for everyone to enjoy.
