This photo essay presents work from the project Mannequins, photographed in June 2017 at the Whipple Company Store in Whipple, West Virginia. Originally owned by a coal company that operated local mines until their closure in the mid-1950s, the store functioned within a system where miners were paid in company script and required to purchase goods on site. Now a museum, the building granted rare access to its attic, a space not typically open to visitors, where these images were made.
Photographer Paul Anderson is a Philadelphia-based photography hobbyist who began working with photography in the late 1970s after acquiring his first SLR camera. His practice focuses on places and scenes he responds to deeply, ranging from natural environments to urban ruins in both rural and urban contexts. Anderson describes his approach as contemplative, emphasizing faithful representation of the original scene. Digital editing is used selectively to reveal what is present in the photograph and, at times, to support composition. Anderson is a contributor to Edge of Humanity Magazine.