A British/Canadian artist from the industrial region of Northumberland, UK, Richard Flynn recalls when Northumbrian mining was a major industry during the 1970s. In the winter of 1980, the Dudley Miners Institute welcomed the young pastel artist into their group, where he sketched youths stretched over the snooker table, as the lights illuminated a group of aging mining faces with stories to tell. With the future of British heavy industry in decline, and following the closure of the mine, Flynn realised the local colliery dialect would soon disappear. Aided by the BBC, he recorded the miners in their clubhouse. The result is the Dudley Series: a 26-foot-long, pastel-on-paper installation, comprising portraits of the miners in their social element accompanied by 40-year-old conversation recordings.
Curated by John Leroux and organized by the Beaverbrook Art Gallery.
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