The miners' strike of 1984–1985 was one of the UK's most significant periods of industrial action and continues to have considerable political significance and emotional resonance today. The strike started when the UK government proposed the closure of loss-making pits, something that was projected to cost 20,000 jobs.
Strike action began in the north of England, but mining communities in south Wales were renowned for strict adherence to the strike. Wales was more dependent on mining as the nation already had higher unemployment, and many Welsh villages had developed as single-industry communities. It is, therefore, no surprise that mining has been a rich subject for artists in Wales.
Poster: Defend South Wales Miners – No Surrender
National Union of Mineworkers (founded 1945) 
To mark the 40th anniversary of the strikes, I have chosen images that show how different artists have responded to the lives of mining communities before, during and after the 1984–1985 strike. I was particularly interested in choosing works which explore comradeship and community – as well as images that give us insight into how we see working class masculinity.
On Strike by David Lawrence Carpanini from Cyfarthfa Castle Museum & Art Gallery was painted in 1985. The warm clothes and pale blue sky might depict early winter or late spring – the second half of the strike. Conditions were desperate for many families by the end of the strike. The subject's gaze confronts the viewer, as if to convey a sense of eroded resilience and diminishing patience, almost one year into a bitter dispute.
The perspective of the painting is high and distorted, giving the impression of looking down at the figure – maybe through a lens. This lens-like quality is emphasised by the unusual circular shape of the canvas. It looks like the subject has been captured by a fisheye lens, or a security camera – or even through a peephole.
Perhaps this dynamic between viewer and subject reflects the context of hostile media coverage and strike leaders being branded 'the enemy within' by Thatcher. To me it suggests a sense of paranoia about being watched. This paranoia was well-founded – The Armstrong Memo, sent to Thatcher in February 1985, detailed MI5 involvement in the surveillance of the National Union of Mineworkers.
Carpanini's figure stands protectively in front of a child. A Welsh poster supporting the miners used the slogan 'when they close a pit they kill a community'. The protective pose in On Strike could suggest a similar sentiment, where the figure is acting to protect his family and community from losing their largest local employer – and to safeguard the heritage of the area for the next generation.
Pit Closure, Miners Coming Up
1977
Nicholas Evans (1907–2004) 
Pit Closure, Miners Coming Up by Nicholas Evans uses a similar high-angled perspective – as if we are on solid ground and the miners are rising up to meet us. This painting seems grim and desolate. The miners have wizened eyes and hollow cheekbones, and their fingers tightly grip the ropes. The figures lack individuality, and their shapes tessellate in a way that suggests a pattern rather than a group of real people.
Evans began working as a miner at 13, and his father died in an accident at Fforchaman Colliery three years later. From this biographical detail, we might expect Evans to focus on the dangers of mining. However, Evans said of mining that 'the comradeship I think outweighs it all.' This was painted in 1977, not long after the strikes of 1972 and 1974. The 1974 strike was successful, securing a better pay offer, which may have contributed to Evans' positive views on comradeship and solidarity.
Miners – Relaxing Pit Top Canteen
Dennis C. Drew (active late 20th C) 
Comradeship is the theme of Miners – Relaxing Pit Top Canteen by Denis C. Drew, from Amgueddfa Cymru's collection. The miners in the foreground mirror each other's body language, with their right hands and lunch boxes in perfect alignment. I imagine them smoking in companionable silence, staring into space as they unwind. The two men in the background seem deep in conversation. One man has sunk onto his forearms to listen to what his colleague, tilted towards him and propped on his elbows, is saying.
Drew has painted these four men positioned in a straight line in front of the window, emphasised by the shape of the table and the line on the wall behind them. This gives the impression that the miners are keen to take breaks in the light, a respite from working underground. This lends an extra poignancy to the painting: the men are united by their shared experience of a demanding job.
Drew painted miners at home too, as in Miner Bathing in Tin Bath. Women in mining communities took on tough and physical labour in the home to support their families, including helping their husbands clean up after work. Prior to the introduction of pit head baths, wives had to deal with heating and carrying water, as well as removing coaldust. At the recent 'The Valleys' exhibition at National Museum Cardiff, curators displayed an early washing machine to demonstrate the importance of these labour-saving devices to women.
Dennis C. Drew (active late 20th C) 
Miner Bathing in Tin Bath has a subtle characterisation similar to that of Relaxing Pit Top Canteen. The wife is holding the bowl with loose, relaxed arms, and her husband looks vulnerable kneeling before her with the back of his neck on full display. It is as if the viewer has intruded on a tender private moment. Although the miner is in the process of washing himself, the water and towel appear very clean! Similarly, the men in Relaxing Pit Top Canteen look unmarked by their labour. This, plus the golden hue of the light in both paintings, lead me to infer that Drew is communicating a somewhat romantic view of miners' lives.
The tin bath, lamp, and copper kettle in this painting suggest that this scene is set further in the past, despite being painted in the late twentieth century. As with On Strike, this may convey a sense of pride in industrial heritage – and a desire to protect it.
Jack Crabtree's Communal Bathing shows a group of miners using the pithead baths. Although some men chose not to use them, the pithead baths were a significant development for miners and their families. Being able to get clean, warm and dry before going home reduced the risk of men contracting pneumonia, bronchitis and rheumatism. By avoiding pollutants and heavy lifting, women also benefited from their introduction.
Communal Bathing has a different tone to Miner Bathing in Tin Bath. There is still an atmosphere of trust, as men bend over unselfconsciously in front of each other. However, there is a sly humour here, such as the miner who has dropped his soap. The naked, muscular bodies in Communal Bathing suggest a homoerotic subtext. Two men help each other wash while another man stands confidently displaying curvy buttocks and a somewhat buoyant penis!
The muscular arms and chiselled jaw of the subject of Miner Drilling at the Coalface evoke the hyper-masculinity found in work by queer artists such as Tom of Finland. Tom of Finland produced erotic artwork that depicted men in working-class roles such as seafaring and construction, focusing on their uniforms, muscular physiques and domineering stances. It's not just a twentieth-century thing: Tim Barringer's Men at Work: Art and Labour in Victorian Britain interrogates what images can tell us about masculinity and labour, exploring the work of figures such as Ford Madox Brown and John Ruskin.
The subject of Miner Drilling at the Coalface shares many of these characteristics. Even the positioning of the drill and the word 'drilling' suggests an erotic subtext. The inclusion of tools such as the helmet, metal canteen, and brass Davy Lamp – a lifesaving device lovingly highlighted by the headlamp – reminds us that the subject is no bodybuilding muscle queen, but someone doing a gruelling job.
Kevin Franklin was a member of the fundraising group Lesbians and Gays Support The Miners (LGSM). His Pits and Perverts poster advertised a ball held in London to raise money for miners. It portrays a miner with a sharp jaw and prominent cheekbones, like the one in Miner Drilling at the Coalface. The poster engages with the playful veneration of traditional working-class masculinity in the gay community, as you might expect from its cheeky title!
LGSM continues to inspire, 40 years on. The story of the alliance between striking communities in south Wales and queer activists in London has been immortalised in the film Pride! and is a key part of my novel, Neon Roses. This example of solidarity is important, but they were one of many fundraising groups. For example, Sikh temples in Birmingham raised £5,000 to support miners.
Badge: Lesbians and Gay Men Support the Miners
1985
Jonathan Blake (b.1949) and W. Reeves & Co. Ltd 
Franklin's design has taken on a talismanic status for queer people who are inspired by what LGSM achieved. Now you can buy reproductions of Franklin's poster, as well as t-shirts, badges and mugs.
But it's not just for the gays and lesbians. Outside LGSM and the queer community, objects associated with mining and the miners' strike have a similar talismanic quality. Both 'The Valleys' and the '84–85 Strike!' exhibitions have been successful for National Museum Wales, and the gift shop does brisk trade in 'Support the Miners' badges and replica Davy lamps.
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The emotions stirred by the miners' strike are close to the surface for many. I learned during my research for Neon Roses that some people find it too difficult to talk about. But, like Drew's portrayal of a historical scene between a miner and his wife, in Wales, we draw strength from engaging with our industrial past.
Rachel Dawson, writer
This content was supported by Welsh Government funding
Further reading
Amgueddfa Cymru, 'Strike Stories', 2024
Rachel Dawson, Neon Roses, John Murray Press, 2024
Hywel Francis, The Fed: History of the South Wales Miners in the Twentieth Century, University of Wales Press, 1998
Richard King, Brittle with Relics: A History of Wales, 1962–97, Faber, 2023
People's History Museum, 'Miners' Strike 1974: a victory for workers', 2024
Tim Tate, Pride: The Unlikely Story of the Unsung Heroes of the Miners' Strike, John Blake Publishing, 2017
Ceri Thompson, 'Pithead Baths', Amgueddfa Cymru
