Song Chao 宋朝 (born in 1979 in Shandong Province) grew up and worked in a coal-mining community since he was ten. While such conditions - working 12 hours a day in a mine - would discourage many, Song Chao one day in 2001 decided to install a studio composed of a white background and natural light near the exit of the mine. Thereafter and over the course of five-years period, he devoted himself to the depiction of miners (Miners I, Miners II), their families (Miners’ Families), their surroundings (The Landscape of Coal-mine), and the people whose occupations are connected with the mines (Coal-Mine Community). Together, these photographs offer an intuitive, personal and powerful portrait of the impact of mining on a small community. His two connected series Migrant workers and Hold tackle with the influx of immigrants in China by using the same touch: straightforward yet powerful black and white portrait.
