English Mineheads 1973

Bernd and Hilla Becher made this grid of black and white photographs of English Mineheads with a camera, lens, and film. It’s funny, isn’t it? How we try to organize the world, give it some order! Look at these mineheads, each a variation on a theme, like musical notes in a melancholic song of industry. I imagine the Bechers, setting up their cameras, methodically documenting these structures, searching for the perfect angle, the right light. Were they thinking about the workers who toiled beneath these towers? Or the slow disappearance of this way of life? Each photograph is so clear and precise, yet together they evoke a feeling of something lost. It's like a conversation about form and function and about how things change over time. The Bechers are like archivists, rescuing these objects from oblivion, inviting us to see beauty in the mundane. It's not just about photography. It’s about history, memory, and the stories we tell ourselves about the world.