In the early 1990s, I worked on a National Geographic story called ‘Heart of Appalachia,’ which looked at communities depending on coal mining. In eastern Kentucky, I connected with an extended family, where the father as well as one of his sons worked in the local mines deep underground. To show their close connection with coal, I photographed the miners arriving home, covered with coal dust, which often wiped off on the clothes of family members. Women in the family inhaled the dust while gathering the clothing to wash. Often, health issues caused by the dust appeared in families of the miners, as well as the miners themselves.