Goal No Coal


Jules’ mantra piece, Goal No Coal (2020), was adapted from a 1984 Miner’s Strike slogan. Jules used a photograph she took of an iconic ‘Coal Not Dole’ poster, which was located on display in a picket-line caravan at The Big Pit Museum in Wales.  From this, she used a basic technique using scissors, a photocopier and red tape to recreate the altered, contemporized text.  She proceeded to screen print the image on aged newsprint.  The bitter protest to stop the closure of coal mines 27 years ago, a seminal moment of UK social history, is ironically appropriated by Jules to reflect today’s climate change fight to stop the production of fossil fuels.  

The print was exhibited during COP-26 to send out a clear message, at this critical time, that the production of fossil fuels is so harmful to our environment, we need to stop it now. The past voices of anger and despair now resonate with the same intensity but with juxtaposed purpose.  ‘Stop the closure of mines’ becomes ‘close all the mines and don’t open any more’.  The work embodies the feeling of unity found in protest and is a clear united message for all those who attended COP-26.

Details of the project this work was initially conceived for can be found here.