Representing the everyday? Private photography and Belgian Limbug miners in the 1950s

This paper deals with the visual representation of the "everyday life" of Belgian Limburg miners in the 1950s in order to learn about the changing (mining) community at that time. Not the view created by the colliery owners through corporate magazines and publications, but rather the private photographs made by the mineworkers themselves will be analyzed. The first part of the paper deals with a theoretical exploration of the concept "everyday life". Second the analysis of the private photographs reveals otherwise hidden aspects of consumption, housing and family life in a mining community. Finally this paper wants to contribute to the expanding field of historical visual studies, exploring indeed the structure, language and narrative of private photography.