‘The Very Fire They Sit Beside’
Europe has a coal problem.
Germany gets around a third of its power from coal.
Nine of Europe’s top ten biggest carbon emitters are coal-fired power plants.
The continent’s biggest coal plant, Bełchatów, has the same annual carbon emissions as an entire country.
Coal is the single biggest contributor to climate change worldwide,
yet there are still over 250 active coal power plants in Europe today.
A stone’s throw from some of Europe’s major tourist hotspots, historic villages are under threat
of demolition and water, soil and air are compromised by heavy metal and chemical pollution.
People are paying for coal with their health, their homes, their taxes - and their futures.
Photographer Dan Wilton journeyed across the continent, meeting the communities
shaped by the coal industry and now bearing its legacy.
His photographs document their pride and protest and Europe’s complex and ongoing relationship with coal.
They highlight the urgent need for a ‘just transition’ - a path beyond coal that secures a prosperous
future for the people who have powered our homes and communities for decades.
The Very Fire They Sit Beside is a lyric from a traditional British mining song, called the ‘Fearless Collier Lad’
or ‘Down in the Coalmine’. It references the sacrifice inherent in the comfort of a coal fire.
Prints available here
All proceeds from print sales will go directly to ClientEarth, who dedicate their fight to
tackling the climate crisis and the single largest contributor to it: coal.
Exhibited at Huxley Parlour March 2022
Vice Magazine / The Guardian / It’s Nice That / British Journal of Photography
Port Magazine / Creative Boom / Dazed / Publico / Digital Camera World
Aesthetica Magazine / Monocle / Huck Magazine
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‘Canyon’
Los Angeles, USABook collaboration with writer Josh Jones and Ditto London, documenting
the people of Runyon Canyon, Los Angeles.
“ It’s just a dusty old canyon.
It’s not the prettiest.
But it’s the most famous.
And in LA, that counts for everything.”
56 pages, full colour, saddle stitched
Risograph centre interview section
270mm x 207mm, 270gsm (Riso 120gsm)
Available here
The Observer / It's Nice That / iD / Nowness / Wonderland / Coolhunting
Vice / Ain't Bad / Huck Magazine / MSN / Le Cool / The Heavy Collective
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‘Sumimasen’
Honshu & Shikoku Islands, Japanすみません
(su-mi-ma-se-n)
“excuse me, sorry, thank you”
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‘Crane’
Falköping, Sweden“A quiet walk in the gently rolling hills of the Vast Goth Land, along the shore of Lake Hornborgasjön
becomes first an opportunity for a wry study, then a gentle lyric on normal human oddity,
then a play on the observer observed and ultimately a narrative about form and space.”
Design by Fabrizio Festa
Foreword by author Tony Anderson.
Published by The Golden Pig Press
in collaboration with Blink Art.
44 pages, full colour,
26 photographs
196mm x 160mm, case bound and cloth wrapped
Tatami White 115gsm & Cyclus Offset 140 gsm
Available here
It's Nice That / Monocle / The British Journal of Photography / Creative Boom
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‘Green and Gold’
Wisconsin, USAGreen Bay is a small industrial city on the shores of the Lake Michigan.
It’s home to the Green Bay Packers, the only non-profit, community
owned major league sports team in the US.
The Packers have sold out every home game since 1960.
115,000 names are on the season ticket waiting list,
with an average waiting time of 30 years.
Lambeau Field has a capacity of 81,441.
Green Bay’s population is 105,000.
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‘Stob Eht’
EuropeLA band 'The Bots' on tour around Europe.
48 pages, full colour, centre sewn
Optional tie-dye cloth sleeve cover
Exhibited:
The Photographers' Gallery
We Want More
Group Show
2015
Maurice Eindhardt Neu Gallery
Solo Show
2012
Available here
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‘AnimagiC’
Bonn, GermanyAnimagiC is an annual anime convention held in Bonn, Germany.
It’s one of the largest of its kind in the German-speaking world with about 12,000 visitors.
Shot over one day.
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‘Fuck Off, I Love You’
London, UKPortrait exhibition in collaboration with Huse Monfaradi
Exhibited at LondonNewcastle, 2010