Ian Byers-Gamber

ian.byersgamber@gmail.com
@bamblerdander
21 January – 3 February 2025
Mason Gross Galleries
I Come Creeping

Mustering during 1921's Battle of Blair Mountain, 10,000 racially‑integrated, largely‑Socialist striking coal miners greeted each other, "I come creeping." The shibboleth distinguished and protected them from the private police, sheriffs, and strikebreakers of their robber baron bosses.

In the hypercapitalist present day, such histories of violent uprising offer fresh lessons—on the power of the people, and the means we have to liberate ourselves.

A history textbook open to a page about coal mining in West Virginia rests on a gold fabric pad inside of an antique vitrine. A label next to the book reads

March of Progress
Antique vitrines, vintage history textbooks, antique reticulated bookstand, memorandum (letter press on artist-made bleached abaca paper)

Three black and white photographs in black frames with white mats on a wall. The left photograph is a landscape image of a small town with a train running across the frame. The center image is of a stone bank building facade at night. The right image is of a dense forest with a curved road cutting across the foreground.

On Blair Mountain;
Front Facade of the Matewan National Bank, now the West Virginia Mine Wars Museum; and
Matewan, WV from the site of the original railroad depot
Silver gelatin print, Nielsen Profile 34 Matte Black frame

A large photograph of a tombstone in a verdant cemetery leans against a white wall. In front of the tombstone are two red training bullets standing upright.

Smilin' Sid's Tombstone (With Offerings)
UV print on dibond, .556 snap caps

A close up image of a shelf holding a series of postcards. Each stack of postcards sits in a routed out slot, and on the wall above each postcard is a vinyl sticker of the image on the card itself.

Archaeology from Below
5x7 glossy postcards, vinyl, artist-made red oak shelves

An antique wooden cabinet with an arcade machine style quarter acceptor sits against a white wall. There are power cords running down below the cabinet. On the top surface of the cabinet is an eyepiece from an old stereogram viewer. Above the cabinet is a mirrored gilded frame, on the surface of the mirror is a painted image of a bundle of dynamite with the words

Commit Sabotage!
Antique RCA Radiola radio cabinet, antique stereograph viewer, Sintron KAI-638 coin acceptor, HO-scale model (Walthers Diamond Coal Corporation Kit, acrylic paint, rigid foam insulation, Woodland Scenics ballast, Woodland Scenics coal, Woodland Scenics foliage), Pepper's Ghost installation (Canal Plastics two-way mirror, Raspberry Pi 4, Arduino Uno, LED lights, Lilliput 10.1” FA1011-NP/C/T monitor), signboard by A. Jinha Song (found lumber, gold leaf, Plexiglas, acrylic paint, silver gelatin print of a West Virginian coal tipple, Mylar)

A diptych of two black and white images in a silver frame with white mat. The left image is of a 2000's style historical info sign about

The Battle of Matewan / The Matewan Massacre
Silver gelatin prints, Nielsen Profile 93 Silver frame

A plaster cast of a brick wall with fake bullets set into bullet holes is inset into the white wall of the gallery.

Matewan Post Office Markings
Hydrocal Plaster

An unbleached muslin flag with block applique letters reading

Vittoria o Morte
Hand appliqué on unbleached cotton muslin, red LED bulb

A small wooden frame containing a black and white archival image of a tent camp of striking coal miners next to a large wooden frame containing a full color image of the interior of a contemporary leftist organizing space, with people holding books and items related to the Battle of Blair Mountain.

Transmission
Archival inkjet print on Canson Photo HighGloss, artist frame (red oak, spent 9mm casings) silver gelatin contact print from digital negative of Library of Congress-held glass plate negative (call number LC-F82- 7372, originally titled “Group of striking union miners & the familys living in tents, Lick Creek, W.Va., [4/12/22]”)

A small wooden frame containing a black and white archival image of a tent camp of striking coal miners next to a large wooden frame containing a full color image of a figure wearing a kuffiyeh and red bandana posing with a gun at a wooded shooting range. Beside the figure is a target stand full of bullet holes, two of the targets are of Richard Sackler's face. The colors of the center of his face are inverted in a circle.

Self Portrait
Archival inkjet print on Canson Photo HighGloss, artist frame (red oak, spent 9mm casings), silver gelatin contact print from digital negative of Library of Congress-held glass plate negative (call number LC-F82- 7375, originally titled “Tents, Lick Creek, W.Va., [4/12/22]”)