SONG CHAO | COAL MINERS

In 2002 at the age of 22, Song Chao a former coal miner picked up a camera and began to take photographs of his former colleagues, the resulting series, Coal Miners, is a compelling and insightful portrait of the men who work in some of the world’s most dangerous mines.

The following year, the series was exhibited for the very first time at the Recontres d’Arles festival, and later that year at the 798 Gallery in Beijing and the Pingyao International Photography Festival, where I first encountered this powerful series.

Many observers of this work, make a natural connection with that of the legendary Richard Avedon, but it is important to understand that at the time these photographs where produced, Chao, who was still an amateur photographer, had little knowledge of the history of Western photography, and was unaware of who Avedon was or his work.

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