Boris Vasilievich Chesnokov, the painter of The Next Shift is Growing Up, spent more than 10 years working as an artist in the Tomsk and Usinsk mines in Mezhdurechensk Many of his works depict the lives of miners. In his works, the artist depicts every aspect of the coal workers’ lives. His canvases depict the working day in the mine — the miners toiling away at the coal face or resting, in the underground shafts or open cast mines, the geologists and mining surveyors, the strong, determined workers who contribute to the region’s proud mining heritage.

The Kuzbass region is home to whole mining dynasties — families in which the men spend their entire careers working as miners, and pass on their skills from one generation to the next. In one of his canvases, Boris Chesnokov depicts a symbolic scene: a team of miners, who have just come up from underground, are chatting to a young future miner. In the centre of the picture we see a boy, standing up straight and pushing his thin shoulders back, as he proudly tries on a miner’s helmet.

It takes courage to be a miner — it is difficult and dangerous work. But in this painting the miners’ faces, black with coal dust as they are, are mischievous and laughing — they seem to be saying to the viewer: ‘Miners enjoy a joke’. With affection, Boris Chesnokov dedicates these verses to the miners of Mezhdurechensk:

The miners in the painting are wearing orange helmets. The color of their helmets shows their specialization. White helmets are for bosses, and orange helmets are worn by workers. Other essential items pieces of the miner’s equipment include a lamp, boots and fireproof clothes that are able to provide protection in hostile conditions. The survival kit which the miners take with them when they go underground also includes a so- called “lifesaver” — a device to protect the eyes and lungs in low oxygen conditions — fires, methane leaks and when the air is full of coal dust. Boris Chesnokov’s painting allows us to imagine the conditions that the ‘coal men’ have to deal with in their work.