It is always light underground

A photo project dedicated to the miners of the Zolotushinsky mine (miner, Altai Territory), the conditions of their work and memory, in which Valentin Sidorenko uses the found archive of photographs from this mine. He was three years old when his father died in this mine

Closing my eyes, I remember how my mother put me to sleep when dad returned from work. He froze in the doorway, his face was red with blood. My mother and I cried.

From work, dad brought several stones. They were not like those that I saw - these stones shimmered in the sun with different colors.

Dad worked in a mine in our city, which was built for miners. My grandfathers, grandmothers, great -grandfathers worked there. Everyone understood that the fortifications underground could not withstand. The safety precautions were not respected due to the plans that had to be fulfilled-everything was reduced to savings and fines.

There was a hot summer day. My father's friend shouted through the fence: "Valka, call Batu." He, like his father, was an explosor, but they worked in different shifts. “And he died,” I said. Someone ran out of the house in a black scarf.

After there was a court and long trials. And then the mine closed, the buildings of this complex literally pulled out the former miners. And every time I walked along our street, where a huge plain stone stood on the road, I proudly said: “My folder was overwhelmed with this stone!”

Many years later, when I already survived my “folder”, I got an archive of photographs of a certain V. Grunin. Relatives of the photographer sold unwashed films on which the life of the mine was captured, where dad worked. I have almost no photos with my father, but I see him in every miner on these negatives.

Father died not his death, and therefore I do not know where his soul is. It seems to me that the mine has never closed, and the miners still work, live, only in another world. And with them my dad.

Photos: Valentin Sidorenko and Vladimir Grunin