MTalks—Minefields

Listen to a conversation where we unpacked a group of images to expose the covert narratives of colonialism and slow violence embedded in extractivism. Focused on coal mining in Australia, but also looking into instances in the UK, South Africa and the Americas, we cross-examined visual narratives that expand our understanding of coal mining beyond its economic and environmental repercussions — and well into its social, political and cultural implications. This talk forms part of a two part series by the Global Extraction Observatory (GEO)—a research collective led by Eduardo Kairuz and Sam Spurr exploring how new forms of visual and spatial practice can amplify our climate change understanding. From the open-cut mine landscapes in Australia to the mine-tunnel interiors in the United Kingdom, we examined the aesthetics of energy production and resource extraction to disclose the political, ecological and multi-scalar implications of extractivism.