--- description: Peter van Agtmael photographed West Virginia's coal miners for TIME, and tried to get beyond the stereotypes. title: Coal Miner Portraits in West Virginia image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5e26ad9f72e6b3f6/6988c127fb4eac81fe8915f5/coal-country-peter-van-agtmael-13.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [LightBox](/tag/time-section-lightbox/) ## LightBox Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Below the Surface: Photographing Coal Miners Without the Stereotypes by [Peter van Agtmael](/author/peter-van-agtmael/) ## Peter van Agtmael Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Apr 6, 2017 11:00 AM CUT  Coal miners appear in Southern Coal Corporation coal mine Pay Car Inc. No. 58 in Monroe County, W.Va., on Mar. 17, 2017. Coal miners appear in Southern Coal Corporation coal mine Pay Car Inc. No. 58 in Monroe County, W.Va., on Mar. 17, 2017.Peter van Agtmael—Magnum Photos for TIME by [Peter van Agtmael](/author/peter-van-agtmael/) ## Peter van Agtmael Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Apr 6, 2017 11:00 AM CUT A few miles south of Charleston, W.Va., in Chapmanville and Madison, the decline of the coal industry in the last decades has been particularly hard felt. Yet optimism is on the rise, as TIME’s Justin Worland [reports](http://time.com/4725177 "undefined") in this week’s issue. The state elected Jim Justice, a billionaire coal baron, as Governor, and the nation installed Donald Trump as President. Both men wooed West Virginia voters with the promise of more mining jobs and fewer regulations. Peter van Agtmael, a Magnum photographer, visited both towns last month, shooting the photos featured here. In Monroe County, he also toured one of Southern Coal Corporation’s mines, descending below the earth’s surface with dozens of miners who continue to live off coal. “I was struck by how mechanized everything was,” he told TIME of his experience inside the mine. “With all the talk about bringing back jobs for miners, it’s a point that’s not often made.” Perhaps more important, though, is the complexity of the subjects he encountered. “What I learned is that there’s danger in how we portray this issue,” van Agtmael says. During the course of the polarized debate over what the U.S. should do about the future of coal, he believes that some people — the miners and their families, often — can become scapegoats, and symbols of the “desperation” of rural, working class voters, who are dependent on a technology that is being replaced. That symbolism, he says, was not reflected in the real lives of the miners as he saw them. “When I was in West Virginia, what struck me was the range and complexity of the encounters I had with people,” he says. “They are not as simple as they are presented by politicians and media outlets.” [Read TIME’s full feature.](http://time.com/4725177 "undefined")  A street in Chapmanville, W.Va., on Mar. 18, 2017. Peter van Agtmael—Magnum Photos for TIME  A window display on Main Street in Madison, W.Va., on Mar. 18, 2017. Peter van Agtmael—Magnum Photos for TIME  Trailers appear between Madison and Danville, W.Va., on Mar. 20, 2017. Peter van Agtmael—Magnum Photos for TIME  Sunday service at Madison Baptist Church in Madison, W.Va., on Mar. 19, 2017. Peter van Agtmael—Magnum Photos for TIME  A road in Monroe County, W.Va., on Mar. 19, 2017. Peter van Agtmael—Magnum Photos for TIME  A food bank for those in need at Madison Baptist Church, in Madison, W.Va., on Mar. 20, 2017. Peter van Agtmael—Magnum Photos for TIME  The town of Danville, W.Va., appears on Mar. 19, 2017. Peter van Agtmael—Magnum Photos for TIME  Logan, W.Va., as seen from the highway on Mar. 19, 2017. Peter van Agtmael—Magnum Photos for TIME  Election posters for Jim Justice (now Governor of West Virginia) appear in Chapmanville, W.Va., on Mar. 18, 2017. Peter van Agtmael—Magnum Photos for TIME  A coal miner appears at a Southern Coal Corporation underground coal mine in Monroe County, W.Va., on Mar. 17, 2017. Peter van Agtmael—Magnum Photos for TIME  A coal miner appears at a Southern Coal Corporation underground coal mine in Monroe County, W.Va., on Mar. 17, 2017. Peter van Agtmael—Magnum Photos for TIME  Coal miners appear in Southern Coal Corporation coal mine Pay Car Inc. No. 58 in Monroe County, W.Va., on Mar. 17, 2017. Peter van Agtmael—Magnum Photos for TIME  Coal miners appear in Southern Coal Corporation coal mine Pay Car Inc. No. 58 in Monroe County, W.Va., on Mar. 17, 2017. Peter van Agtmael—Magnum Photos for TIME  Coal miners appear in Southern Coal Corporation coal mine Pay Car Inc. No. 58 in Monroe County, W.Va., on Mar. 17, 2017. Peter van Agtmael—Magnum Photos for TIME  Coal miners appear in Southern Coal Corporation coal mine Pay Car Inc. No. 58 in Monroe County, W.Va., on Mar. 17, 2017. Peter van Agtmael—Magnum Photos for TIME  Coal miners appear in Southern Coal Corporation coal mine Pay Car Inc. No. 58 in Monroe County, W.Va., on Mar. 17, 2017. Peter van Agtmael—Magnum Photos for TIME  Coal miners appears in Southern Coal Corporation coal mine Pay Car Inc. No. 58 in Monroe County, W.Va., on Mar. 17, 2017. Peter van Agtmael—Magnum Photos for TIME  Outside a Southern Coal Corporation underground coal mine in Monroe County, W.Va., during a rainstorm on Mar. 17, 2017. 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