These Murdered Old Mountains

This work traces 150 years of coal extraction in the Appalachian region of the United States and the lasting ecological, economic, and cultural consequences left in its wake. The project examines landscapes reshaped by strip mining, waterways poisoned by acid mine drainage and coal sludge, and communities shaped by an industry that once provided stable wages but ultimately destabilized public health and environmental systems.

As coal has collapsed under market pressure, mechanization, and competition from natural gas and renewable energy, Appalachia has been left to reckon with a damaged land and an uncertain future. Through photography and archival material, this work situates the Appalachian coalfields within a broader history of industrial extraction and sacrifice, documenting not only what was taken, but what remains.