Camerawork, Scranton’s only photography gallery, located in the Marquis Gallery at 515 Center Street, Scranton, PA is proud to present “The Black Land”, a show of photographs by Ed Dougert. The exhibition will be on view from September 2, 2011 to October 4, 2011
The artist says about his work, “The Pennsylvania anthracite coal region is unique in that a single industry, whose peak is long past, has left its mark on the land, the culture, the economy, and the ecology. Since 1999, I have been constructing a photographic essay of the remnants of the coal industry in Northeastern PA. I have tried to illustrate the graphic beauty of the coal region while interpreting its complex and emotional history with its many chapters of social, economic, and environmental issues. My pictures try to convey the emotion that under lies this area’s past. I began photographing the Pennsylvania coal region as a way to understand what happened there. To stand on the sites you research and feel the history is a unique experience. I hope that a full immersion into this topic allowed me to produce images infused with some of the emotion found at these places.”
In addressing this project of recording these coal mining sites as they exist presently, I combine documentation and interpretation. I am recording the fast disappearing industrial history but also trying to offer pleasing photographs which concentrate on a detail to illustrate a larger piece of the story. Using traditional darkroom techniques and black and white film, the final work is prints from 8 inches square to 11 inches square in size, professionally mounted and framed.
News, Events, and Reviews 