Employing Walter Benjamin’s theory of ‘loss of Aura’ through mechanical reproduction this project centres itself around the petrol station and the beginning of its demise. With the rise of hybrid and battery powered automotive technology and over extraction leading to a decline in petrochemical resources such as crude oil, as well as the ever-present issue of Global Warming. These images strive to question the damage that we as humans have brought on the Earth through our relationship with petrochemicals and their associated costs. Using a mixed medium of photographic techniques, combining the use of analogue and digital image making practices, as well as experimental image development processes such as dipping film in petrol prior to exposure to enquire into these themes. Giving reference to the mechanical age and its inherent challenges rooted in the environmental and economic.

 

This project intertwines with the theories of Guy Debord, Fred Ritchin and Walter Benjamin collectively to represent these isolated sites, soon to be repurposed or re-appropriated in the not so distant future. What the modern-day fuel station lacks in individuality of physical appearance, Is however, made up for in representation of the capitalist mode and the disassociation of the worker from the product as Debord philosophises. As well as objectifying the work of well cited theorists, they are a place representative of the environmental damage they have caused and the dependence of modern society on these locations and what they provide.