- The exhibition, which highlights the work of women in the mining and coal sector, can be visited from August 18 to October 1.
- It replaces the exhibition 'Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow', by Eduardo Urdangaray, which will be moved to Pozo Sotón next September.
The photographic exhibition Pioneers, the women of coal arrives at La Térmica Cultural in Ponferrada. The exhibition develops a journey in images that vindicates the presence, contribution and prominence of women in the mine since the late 60s in Asturias.
From August 18 to October 1, La Térmica Cultural will host this traveling exhibition that vindicates the role of women in the coal industry This exhibition will be open from August 18 to October 1. Pioneers, the women of coalwas created by the Hunosa Historical Archive.
Yasodhara López, general manager of CIUDEN, says that "this exhibition is part of the space of La Térmica Cultural dedicated to give visibility to all the areas of just transition in Spain. Today Pioneras arrives here, which makes visible the role of women in mining, not always very well known, and in which Hunosa has had a lot to do".
In turn, the president of Hunosa, Gregorio Rabanal, stressed "the importance of keeping our heritage and our past alive. It is within this framework that this exhibition was inaugurated, which draws on documents from our historical archive, which includes documentation on Asturian mining companies since the mid-19th century. Traditionally, coal mining has been considered a man's job. In fact, there was a directive from the International Labor Organization that prohibited women from working in the mines, which was in force until the end of the 1990s. But the truth is that there were many women working in the mines, not in the mine, but in very little known and unseen jobs, such as picking".
The space will simultaneously host a second exhibition, under the title Mineras de la mar, by the Garabuxada Cultural Association, which pays tribute to the women who 'dug' coal on the beach of San Juan de La Arena (Soto del Barco), from the early twentieth century until well into the 80s, a much needed tribute both to recognize a job that removed much hunger and to protect from oblivion a unique work in the world and that with the passage of time would eventually disappear even from memory.
Since the beginning of mining activity in Asturias, the presence of women has been a constant. The exhibition presents, through images from the Hunosa Historical Archive and others provided by the Museum of the People of Asturias and private citizens such as Angelita Cueva, an approach to a long history full of sacrifices and renunciations that brings to light a silenced work, far from the epic that surrounds the work of miners and alien, until a few years ago, to any recognition. Considered in many cases as intruders in a man's world and questioned for breaking with the role traditionally assigned to women, women mine workers never had an easy life. Maintaining a balance between home, where they were wives, mothers and daughters, and work, where they fought a tough battle day in and day out, was no easy task.
On the other hand, the exhibition 'Yesterday, today and tomorrow', by Eduardo Urdangaray, present at La Térmica Cultural until August 18, will move to Pozo Sotón during the month of September.
