The river ran black
For years, the Asturias region of northern Spain was one of Europe’s most important coal mining areas, but now, the days of the coal industry are numbered. The last active mine, San Nicolas, will close in 2023 after a long agony that began in the 1980s.
Born in Madrid, far from these northern lands loaded with the symbolism of the workers' struggle, I returned to the place where my paternal family was born, to photograph the end of an era and collect the stories of the last miners and their families.
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Biography
Lys Arango is a Spanish journalist and photographer born in Madrid and based in Paris. She has worked for the United Nations and NGOs and the international press in numerous conflict zones and humanitarian or food crises. In 2019, her work evolves towards a dialogue between writing and documentary photography, resulting from long immersion in the thickness of the historical-cultural contexts and the social issues she addresses.
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Awards
She is one of the winners of the second edition of the mentoring program of the VU' agency and the Fond Régnier pour la creation (2022), as well as the photographic commission "Radioscopie de la France" from the French Ministry of Culture ( 2022). She also obtained the National Geographic Award at the 34th edition of the Eddie Adams Workshop (2021).
