2015 Matt Eich – “Ohio” Ohio Carry Me Ohio: Examining the legacies of coal and industry in Ohio and the communities left behind in the wake of its withdrawal. Work spans 2006 – 2012. Route 356 to Mineral, Ohio is flooded as the winter snows begin to melt on February 25, 2007. Richie Goins Jr. watches from the window of his parentsÕ trailer as cinderblocks are brought in as the foundation for his grandmother’s new trailer. Leetha Goins and her children Timmy, 25, Troy, 16, and grandson Will, for whom she cares, were displaced when a drunk driver swerved off the road and crashed into their trailer. A recent study showed that the child poverty rate has increased 5.6 percent in the state of Ohio over the past 5 years. In the town of Chauncey specifically, 33.3 percent of those under the age of 18 live below the poverty line. Clayton Ator riles up Shank and Money after getting stoned on February 5, 2007. Ator, an ex-con learned to “shoot ink” in prison and does prison style tattoos out of his living room in Carbondale, Ohio. Jesse Sellers Jr., his hair still wet from a bath, stands in his kitchen holding a trophy he won during his first dirt bike competition. “It was so cold and he wanted to quit,” Jesse Sr. said, “but I told him we needed those points and he had to finish. But he won something his first race!” Viewed through a collection of medicine bottles lining the Sellers’ window, Hercules crouches to watch the children playing in the snow. The Sellers family struggles with an assortment of health problems. Most of their children have asthma and twins Kacey and Lacey, 5, were both born profoundly deaf. Tylor Woodrum, 16, holds a box containing his father’s ashes on January 30, 2007 in Carbondale, Ohio. Dave Woodrum was killed in August of 2006 in a high-impact 4-wheeler accident. Dave’s family had his body cremated and his favorite cock-fighting rooster mounted on top of the box. Sand Hill strip mine in Vinton, Ohio on Wednesday, May 15, 2008. Madeline O’Dell, 102 years old, sits as her daughter Jean Bullock opens the door of her home in Chauncey, Ohio on June 24, 2012. Madeline passed away in September, a few short months after this image was made. A Grevy’s zebra named “Elvis” stomps in the snow of his outdoor pen at The Wilds in Cumberland, Ohio on February 27, 2007. Situated on 10,000 acres of reclaimed strip mine land, The Wilds is a research and conservation facility for rare and endangered animals. During the warmer months animals are allowed to roam freely but in the winter are kept in heated indoor pens. Lacey Sellers wanders out in the middle of the street to examine the skidmark her daddy left as he drove away. She and her identical twin Kacey were both born deaf and live in the impoverished town of Chauncey, Ohio. These images are copyright Matt Eich and are use here by permission. They may not be used elsewhere without permission.
