Lost and Found: AV Teams Up With Photographer to Educate the Public

For the past 18 years, photographer Carl Galie has devoted his artistic talents to conservation work, and his latest exhibit is no exception. “Lost on the Road to Oblivion: The Vanishing Beauty of Coal Country,” tackles the difficult and poignant subject of mountaintop removal coal mining in Appalachia. Images in the exhibit reveal the devastation wrought by the practice juxtaposed with images of the beautiful places we stand to lose if the practice continues. The exhibit is on display at Appalachian State University’s Turchin Center for the Visual Arts in Boone, N.C., through Feb. 7, 2014.

Galie’s series of hauntingly beautiful images is accompanied by striking poems crafted by North Carolina’s Poet Laureate, Dr. Joseph Bathanti, who was moved to participate in the exhibit — and become involved in the movement to end mountaintop removal — when he witnessed Galie’s images just a few months ago.

This winter, Appalachian Voices will team up with Galie and Bathanti to host a series of events encouraging folks to attend the exhibit and learn more about mountaintop removal coal mining. Among the events planned is an evening with a resident from the region impacted by mountaintop removal, giving attendees a chance to talk with someone who deals with the issue on a personal level and ask questions about how their life is affected. Dates of the events are to-be-determined, so stay tuned to appalachianvoices.org and facebook.com/AppalachianVoices for details!

For more information about the exhibition, visit tcva.org.