Coalfaces: Life After Coal in the Afan Valley

This arresting series of documentary photographs shows the life and landscape of five small settlements in South Wales. These communities in the Afan Valley, after the pit closures, had to deal with high levels of unemployment and found themselves with severe adjustment problems. For more than a decade, Tina Carr and Anne-Marie Schone worked with the residents of the valley to document the place they call home. Gritty, beautiful, empathetic, sad, and humorous, these photographs reflect a hardy and feisty attitude shared by the residents—despite the adversity they are forced to face—and provide a much-needed reminder of a community all too easily forgotten.