Inside Appalachia Host Beth Vorhees

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This hour-long weekly radio news magazine is devoted to topics of interest in the southern Appalachian region - shared issues shared culture and shared history - with a new perspective

May 9 2009 (aired on Inside Appalachia)

May 1 2009 (online version httpwwwwvpubcastorgnewsarticleaspxid=9432ampterms=photovoice)

Boone County women document beauty hardship with photos

Photo by Joan Linville This photo compares Ironweed to Appalachian women both have strong roots

By Erica Peterson

Listen to the MP3 audio fileMay 1 2009 Through the Southern West Virginia Photovoice Project women in the coalfields used cameras to tell the stories of their communities

The project included five communitiesmdashtwo in Boone County one in Mingo one in Lincoln and one in Kanawha County

On Thursday the group from the Pond Fork area of Boone County gave the final presentation to a small audience at the Wharton Community Center

Despite just having five members theyrsquove managed to cover the walls of the community center with their photographs

Shannon Bell organized the project as part of her PhD dissertation at the University of Oregon

ldquoWhen I started the project I just told them to take pictures to tell the story of their communitiesrdquo she said ldquoIt was very general that includes both positive things and negative things

ldquoThroughout the process it seems that the themes that have really emerged have been the strengths and assets of their communities and the beauty of the communities but also some of their concerns and some of their ideas for changerdquo Some walls are covered with photos representing the communityrsquos strengths -- a spider weaving an intricate web a child playing on a playground a sunflower

Joanne Frame lives in nearby Bim She smiles as she explains one of her photographs

ldquoThis is our grandson he loves to get out helping Poppyrdquo she said ldquoWe wanted to teach him that you work for what you have He had gathered tomatoes out of the garden here Hersquos helping Pappy unload some rocksrdquo

This wall is hopeful but as viewers make their way around the exhibit they come to photographic evidence of the communityrsquos problems

There are photos of roads with huge potholes because of all the coal truck traffic of abandoned buildings of plastic bottles littering the roadsides

And there are numerous pictures of mountaintop removal sites Boone County produces the most coal of any county in West Virginia

Jane Linville goes four-wheeling through the mountains of her community and many of her photographs document those trips One titled ldquoA New Boneyardrdquo shows piles of trees felled to make way for mines

ldquoAll it is are trees that are cut and left to lay thererdquo she said ldquoTheyrsquore not used for any purpose or anything Like thatrsquos enough lumber there that you could build a house with that You could open up your own sawmill with that

ldquoIt was about a milersquos worth of trees that were cut down in that round circle there Then when I went back a week later probably five times that much is gone And now theyrsquove took a dozer and pushed all the trees into the valley and burn them uprdquo

The Photovoice project allowed its participants a chance to document their communities but the women hope it will pave the way for lasting change

Brenda Farris has protested mountaintop removal operations but found that her photos worked just as well in raising awareness

ldquoI wasnrsquot going to do this projectrdquo she said ldquoWe were working on the mountaintop removal but it was kind of hard to get the message out But through my photos maybe I could get some of the message out whatrsquos going on around us and the blasting and people getting sick and the bad roads might show someone else what could be coming to their townrdquo

And already their photographs have brought about change

Joanne and Tammy Frame took their photographs of Boone Countyrsquos scarred roads rendered almost impassable by their numerous potholes to their legislators

ldquoWe went to the state legislators which was Sen Stollings and [Del] Ralph Rodighierordquo Joanne Frame said ldquoWe went to the state Capitol and talked with them and wersquove seen a lot of improvements Theyrsquove started patching the roads and paving and wersquore supposed to get some permanent paving in the spring So wersquove seen a lot of things happen since we wentrdquo

And though that was the end result Bell had hoped for the project even she didnrsquot expect the womenrsquos photographs to have such an immediate impact

ldquoWhen I did it before I saw that there was the potential for bringing about positive change in the community and using their project ideas to develop initiatives in their communities but I guess I didnrsquot realize how successful that could berdquo she said

The group plans to continue meeting even though Bellrsquos time with the project is over They say theyrsquoll keep taking pictures which they hope will bring about even more change

The Photovoice project allowed its participants a chance to document their communities but the women hope it will pave the way for lasting change

Brenda Farris has protested mountaintop removal operations but found that her photos worked just as well in raising awareness

ldquoI wasnrsquot going to do this projectrdquo she said ldquoWe were working on the mountaintop removal but it was kind of hard to get the message out But through my photos maybe I could get some of the message out whatrsquos going on around us and the blasting and people getting sick and the bad roads might show someone else what could be coming to their townrdquo

And already their photographs have brought about change

Joanne and Tammy Frame took their photographs of Boone Countyrsquos scarred roads rendered almost impassable by their numerous potholes to their legislators

ldquoWe went to the state legislators which was Sen Stollings and [Del] Ralph Rodighierordquo Joanne Frame said ldquoWe went to the state Capitol and talked with them and wersquove seen a lot of improvements Theyrsquove started patching the roads and paving and wersquore supposed to get some permanent paving in the spring So wersquove seen a lot of things happen since we wentrdquo

And though that was the end result Bell had hoped for the project even she didnrsquot expect the womenrsquos photographs to have such an immediate impact

ldquoWhen I did it before I saw that there was the potential for bringing about positive change in the community and using their project ideas to develop initiatives in their communities but I guess I didnrsquot realize how successful that could berdquo she said

The group plans to continue meeting even though Bellrsquos time with the project is over They say theyrsquoll keep taking pictures which they hope will bring about even more change