Filmmaker + Editor + Photographer

Matewan, West Virginia

Shaun Slifer is the creative director at the West Virginia Mine Wars Museum. The following photos show him as he makes a rubbing of a historical marker in Matewan, which were included in his gallery show “The Strike Was Broken.”

An excerpt from Shaun’s description:

“Within our shared landscape, historical markers with dismissive and/or oppressive language have the same psychological effect as towering bronze statues of men who we’re not sure we want to revere. Memorial statues and historical markers are not, in and of themselves, our history. Rather, they are a conversation about our history, and that conversation should be evolving, challenging, changing. This is my starting point.”

https://justseeds.org/event/the-strike-was-broken-new-work-by-shaun-slifer/