Banner commissioned by the National Coal Mining Museum for England to commemorate the closure of Kellingley Colliery

Abstract

In December 2015 Kellingley Colliery (The big K) Yorkshire closed signifying the end of deep coal mining in the UK. A number of the miners from Kellingley Colliery received employment at the National Coal Mining Museum for England (NCME) as guides. To commemorate the closure of Kellingley the NCME commissioned me to photograph the ex -Kellingley Colliery miners and subsequently create a "trade union banner". The design is based on the original Kellingley colliery banner and the use of a negative image as the centre piece came from a comment by one of the miners who say the negative image as a representation as " a ghost of a miner and his profession". The strap line was written by the poet Ian McMillan who wrote a number of lines and then the miners took a vote on which one they though most appropriate.
The banner was displayed at the NCME Jan-March 2018.