After the Coal Dust is a book of photographs by John Gill and Bridget Gill about what happened to the coalfield towns of Yorkshire after the pits closed – not the mining itself, but the decades that followed, and the people who stayed.
What the book is about
The closure of the mines took away an industry that had been the heart, the economy and the identity of these towns for generations. This is street and documentary photography, but not of the places street photography usually goes. It is Castleford, Leeds, Pontefract and Selby – and Kellingley, the last deep mine in the country to close.
The photographs run from the 1990s through the 2000s, almost entirely in black and white, made over years rather than on visits. They follow people through the streets, in the markets, in the bars. It is not a book about despair. There are the three women from Castleford laughing, the man in Selby looking up at the sky, children in front of the shelves of an ice cream shop. What it is really about is survival, and what people do when history moves on somewhere else.
What people have said
Their gaze is on a small piece of Northern England, the one most devastated by the closure of the mines which for centuries have been its heart, economy and identity… these portraits tell what happens to a place, and especially to its inhabitants, when history goes elsewhere.
Francesca Melandri, novelist and screenwriter
This is one of the very best books of photography to come to the table.
Batsceba Hardy, Progressive Festival, Milan
"After the Coal Dust" captures moments in time. Every picture tells a story… The Gills’ unique book is not about despair, but about survival, acceptance and emotional understanding. In fact, this is one of the best photo books to ever come out.
LE MAGAZINE, 2023 Special Edition
Editions
The book runs to 130 pages. It is currently available in two printed editions, plus digital.
- A4 softcover – £22 plus postage (ISBN 978-1-8381596-9-6)
- Casebound, cloth with dust jacket, 279mm x 216mm – £25 plus postage (ISBN 978-1-8381596-7-2)
- PDF e-book – available here
- Kindle edition – available from Amazon
The original hardcover editions, 12in x 12in and 8in x 8in, are now out of print and are unlikely to be reprinted – printing costs have risen to the point where they could not be sold at a sensible price. Second-hand copies occasionally turn up on AbeBooks and similar sites.
How to order
Both printed editions are available from The Great British Bookshop, with delivery usually between one and two weeks. I may also have a limited number of signed copies available – please get in touch for details.