Flares

Sunrise over the North Sea. Rays diffract through petroleum jelly derived from crude oil and smeared on to the glass filter of my digital camera.

Symbolises the gas flare that continually burns on an offshore oil and gas platform. The flare is a safety valve burning excess gas to relieve high pressure and prevent explosions.

As the North Sea oil and gas industry declines, and the first rigs and platforms photographed by my offshore worker Dad reach end of life to make way for cleaner energies, these distant flares will be extinguished.

Unless they are recognised, documented and preserved, so too will the voices and memories of those who were there, and who remember when oil and gas was discovered in the North Sea.