New exhibition showcases the creativity of women in 20th century British mining

The museum is proud to present a ground breaking exhibition curated by Jennifer Jasmine White, titled From the Earth Comes Light: Women, Creativity & Mining in 20th Centenary Britain.

This unique and incredibly important exhibition, opening on Friday, 4 April, shines a spotlight on women artists in the museum’s collection and their inspiration drawn from mining and industrial communities.

Through the museum’s outstanding fine art collection and work loaned from the Amber Film & Photography Collective, women artists who have used their creativity and imagination to represent their perceptions of mining are put in the spotlight.

The exhibition aims to challenge the conventional depictions of British mining, which often focus solely on men. The pieces displayed tell a different story, one that is just as important but far less often told. It showcases the vital contributions of women to mining culture.

This free exhibition runs until Sunday, 28 September, and will be the first to highlight women’s creative contributions to mining history. The display will include paintings, drawings, film, sculptures, and photography. The museum’s collection is made up of 31 percent from female artists, which is much higher than the national average.

For the first time, the exhibition brings to the forefront the unshown artworks of these remarkable women, offering their perspectives on labour, class, and collectively. Putting art objects into dialogue with archival pieces, it will highlight the creativity of working-class communities and offer insights on issues still impacting many women today.

Visitors will discover that women have long been actively shaping and depicting mining culture in surprising ways. The works in this exhibition reveal that women from mining communities have historically been industrious, talented, and wonderfully creative.

These pieces are also put into conversation with the work of notable photographers including Keith Pattison, David Severn, and Ian Beesley, attentively depicting women’s resourcefulness and struggle in mining communities.

Guest Curator Jennifer Jasmine White has meticulously curated this exhibition to highlight the often-overlooked contributions of women in mining.

Jennifer is currently completing a PhD at the University of Manchester, where she also teaches. Her writing and research focus on the cultural history of working-class femininity in contemporary Britain. She writes extensively on class, gender, and popular culture, contributing to publications like the Financial Times, New Statesman, and Tribune. She has given talks at institutions such as Tate Britain, the Whitworth Gallery, and Studio Voltaire.

Lynn Dunning, CEO of the National Coal Mining Museum for England, said: “This exhibition is a celebration and acknowledgement of the resilience and creativity of women inspired by the mining industry. Their stories deserve to be told and shared, and I am honoured that their voices and talent will be on display here in the museum.”