Coal has fuelled South Africa's industrial growth for more than a century, powering cities, industries and economies. Yet beneath the surface lies another reality—one shaped by poverty, abandoned mines and the lives of those who continue to risk everything in search of work.

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These portraits were made deep inside the abandoned Imbabala coal mine near Ermelo, where young men descend into forgotten seams to extract coal by hand. Working in darkness with little oxygen and no formal safety measures, they earn only enough to survive while facing the constant threat of tunnel collapses and burial beneath the earth.

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Illuminated only by the brief burst of a handheld flash, each face emerges from the darkness for a fleeting moment before returning once more to the underworld below. Coal dust settles across skin like another layer of the earth itself, softening the boundary between body and landscape. In that instant, the portraits become more than documents of labour; they become moments of recognition, revealing the humanity of men whose work remains largely unseen.

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Developed over several years in collaboration with environmental activist Matthews Hlabane and ActionAid South Africa, Working the Black Seam reflects on the human cost of resource extraction. Beneath every landscape altered by industry are lives shaped by its demands. These portraits ask us to look beyond the coal itself and encounter the people whose labour continues to fuel the world above.

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