Reclamation: The Towns of the Virginia Coalfields is a story of dichotomous forces that crashed into each other in the rural communities that carved an existence from the mountains surrounding them. It is a story of powerful external forces and long misunderstood internal forces. It is a story of isolation, failure, success, and unfulfilled promise. It is my story of the coalfields.

This project is my attempt to honestly come to terms with the towns of my youth now that I am no longer there. I have spent the last three years attempting to construct a working definition of the place where I was born, apart from the imposition of external forces that have successfully, and insufficiently, defined the region for generations. I came to discover that the coalfields, while seemingly locked in time, are changing. I see glimmers of hope in the region, even in the places where I didn’t expect it, which is why this project often seems like a story in two parts.