In essence I feel this project is a visual exploration of the current state of consumption and distribution, within petrochemical industry. I feel that it is in a state of purgatory between the invention of the motor car and the development of battery powered and driverless automotive technology, meanwhile fuel prices continue to rise. As a global society we push for the beginning of the end of the petrochemical and mechanical era. As we shift into a technological and digital age and technology moves away from requiring these harmful modes of power. I feel it is exemplary of capitalism. Having extensively read the theories of Walter Benjamin and Guy Debord, I felt compelled to enquire into the isolation and disassociation of the Fuel Station worker as well as the beginning of the end of the petro-mechanical era stemming from a personal connection to the topic having had a family member work on oil-rig based drilling and an interest in the environmental detriment these substances can and have caused throughout their extensive usage period.

 

As stated in Fred Ritchin’s ‘Bending the frame’ “while digital media are considerably more efficient and cheaper, easier to master and to distribute, in their near omnipresence may lack a sufficient singularity”. Playing into Benjamins theory of “Aura” I think that this is something which carries through into my work creating something that is singular, however using forms of mechanical reproduction to tarnish the “Aura” of the imagery featured within the body of work. Creating a different way of seeing and interpreting the petrol station through the idea of the beginning of the end for these sites and their environmental detriment.