My own old county is my copy-book,
From which I cull my pictures; and its leaves
Are like her mines, exhaustless in their worth.
John Harris from ‘A Story of Carn Brea’
MINE IS YOURS was a collaboration between artist Laura Smith and the local community around Pool in Cornwall,
and was co-produced by Aune Head Arts and The Heartlands Project.
Mine is Yours was the first part of Laura's work in which she worked with a group of young people to research the area and the history of the mining culture, from which she created an installation. The installation was shown at the historic Basset Institute, nr. Pool in March 2009, a building originally built in 1878 for the miners of the Basset group of mines.
Laura produced a CD of the recordings from the project.
You can view the CD booklet here, or listen to the recordings:
Claire Tidbull & Kat Cartwright
Vicky Smith & Amy Bent
Kevin Lee & David Judge
Rhys Uren & Elly Blease
Laura writes:
"Mine is Yours was an exploration into the impact that the development and success of Cornish tin mining had on Pool and the surrounding area’s landscape and community, and consequently, the impact of its decline.
Such interest led to research into the local community itself, its history and representation as well as hopes and aspirations and involved individual interviews, group interviews, workshops and also a stall at Pool Market.
With thanks to the great generosity of local people and ex-miners, a group of children from Pool School were able to listen to this archive of audio interviews and hear first hand about their heritage. They then worked hard to select the elements of these recordings that were significant and relevant to their lives in the present day. The four tracks below are thus their interpretation of the history of the area and their ideas about its future, were recorded by themselves.
In this sense the work serves as a celebration of the rich heritage of Cornish tin mining as well as asking questions about the future of the area and the ambitions of its young people, concentrating as much on the history of the area as on the future."
