Beneath the Soil of Montceau

Post-extraction, popular ecology, working-class memory, mined landscapes

What if what disappeared underground still spoke at the surface? What if industrial ruins were seeds for new stories?

This project is rooted in Montceau-les-Mines, a former coal mining basin in Saône-et-Loire, to explore the visible and invisible traces of extraction. It seeks a form of sensitive heritage, blending working-class memory, ecology, and transmission.

Through photography, sensitive cartography, soil sampling, writing and workshops, this work offers a poetic descent into post-industrial landscapes and the lives of those who still inhabit them.

Intentions

• To uncover a living memory of places marked by extraction
• To explore the connections between soil, social history, and spontaneous biodiversity
• To narrate the invisible depth of transformed landscapes

Methodology

• Chromatography of soils from former mining sites
• Photographic inventory of pioneer and spontaneous plants
• Sound recordings, interviews, emotional mapping
• Participatory workshops focused on transmission and storytelling

Objectives

• To offer an ecological and poetic reading of industrial heritage
• To work with local residents through their stories and their land
• To rethink the notion of "heritage" through margins, ruins, and the living

Project status

Currently in development in partnership with the association ODiL
Upcoming short-term residencies in Montceau
Photographic experiments and soil sampling scheduled for September 2025

Planned outputs

• Photographic and sound exhibition
• Collective publication (fanzine or poetic booklet)
• Guided tours through industrial wastelands with local residents
• Workshops