Composer Laura Siersena has written a piece for 7 pianos, voice and the sound of picks and shovels that were used in the rescue of survivors of one of the most tragic disasters of our time. The piece entitled Aberfan is an elegy not only for the people of this small Welsh town who suffered the loss of a generation and which wounded their soul, but reminds us that even today our country and countries around the planet are being destroyed by unbridled industry pillaging the land and exploiting its riches for the few. This performance piece will be accompanied by the black and white photographs taken by Life photojournalist IC Rapoport, who was took the accompanying photo here.
On October 21, 1966 – FIFTY YEARS AGO- in the small mining village of Aberfan, Wales, a man-made mountain of coal waste catastrophically collapsed on a primary school, killing 116 wee little children and 28 adults. A Tribunal found that the National Coal Board was entirely responsible for failing to act to prevent this disaster, and believe it or not, THEY WERE NEVER PROSECUTED FOR THEIR DEATHS. Artist Ian Smith-Heisters will create an immersion space using projection imagery and semi-transparent scrims, capturing subjects of people, nature and the tactility of coal, ingrained in their faces. The viewer moves through the space, at times full of unsettling, discordant movement as if being subsumed in an avalanche of slag. This writer will visit Aberfan next month and pay tribute, much like PFW did last year in Hiroshima.
