Derek Slater, British
The Cage Ascending, 2015
The Cage Ascending by Derek Slater serves as a poignant metaphor for the lifelessness inherent in the coal experience. Frequently, coal production reduces workers to mere cogs in the machinery of production. The painting vividly portrays the grim conditions imposed upon workers in the coal industry, presenting them as faceless figures confined within a cage. This cage symbolizes the environmental and economic pressures that bind workers to a profession that gradually erodes their health and devastates their communities. The environmental and health ramifications not only dismantle communities but also exploit lives for the substantial financial gain of large corporations. Label by Jackson Smith