Carbon black is a material produced by the incomplete combustion of heavy petroleum products.  The substance has been in use since the 1860's as a pigment and reinforcement in the manufacture of inks, paints, lacquers and hundreds of other commodities. The largest demand for carbon black comes from the rubber industry, with the most important product being the car tyre.

 

This body of work documents Sevalco, a carbon black plant located within the suburb of Avonmouth in my hometown of Bristol. The plant was built on a 20-acre site during the 1950's and had a large community of labourers.  At its peak in the 1970's the plant employed over 500 members of staff and was the UK's leading manufacturer of the product.  During these early years the surrounding environment was constantly coated in the sooty substance, passers-by would stop and marvel at the landscape, where everything from the trees and bushes to the sheep grazing in nearby fields were coloured in black. 

 

I began photographing the plant in October 2008 at a time when the plant's future looked uncertain.  Rumours were rife amongst the workforce that the plant had been earmarked for imminent closure.  By December their worst fears were confirmed.  The company announced that it was closing the plant due to a dramatic fall in demand for carbon black products, as a result of the global economic downturn and the sudden decline in new car sales.

 

Over 8 months, I made a total of 15 visits to the plant and bared witness to the gradual process of shutting down all operations.  With each visit the loud and hectic noise of the plant became quieter and quieter and the number of workers steadily decreased week on week - the few employees that remain fill their days contemplating their inevitable unemployment.  The once crammed warehouses storing numerous packets of carbon black ready to be shipped out, now lie empty, all that remains are the black tread marks from the forklifts which took the product away.

 

Photographically the plant poses an interesting problem since carbon black consists of pure elemental carbon, which appears black because it reflects almost no light in the visible part of the spectrum.  Layers of the substance have built up over the years along with other dust, dirt and rust and cover almost every surface throughout the entire plant.   Through these layers - like the growth rings on a tree - we are given a sense of history and traces of its former glory.

 

The vision of industrial wonder and dominance, prevalent in the late I9th Century, now seems to have vanished along with the structures themselves. Carbon Black is a project that explores this notion and documents a space undergoing a change at this significant time in history.