By Dylan Vidovich, The Logan Banner
SOUTH MAN — For over a year now, Fia Backström, an accomplished multidisciplinary artist and writer who is a native of Sweden, has found an unlikely venue to host an embroidery class: the Buffalo Creek Memorial Library in South Man.
Backström, who currently lives and works in New York City as a professor at the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, said she always had an interest in the mining industry, as the mining of iron ore is a major industry in her home country of Sweden. While conducting research, that’s when she came across the history of the mining industry in West Virginia.
Backström said she had heard lots of derogatory comments about citizens of Appalachia, which made her want to visit the area even more.
“That also made me want to come here and understand this place better with my own experience,” Backström said. “There are many other things I think about, like the Appalachian nature. That nature is very strong here. That’s also something in Sweden that’s very important and the mountains are very similar to the mountains in Sweden — it actually comes from the same mountain chain originally, I learned. Those are very old mountains.”
