Decadence Index

I first began investigating fracking in the midwestern countryside in 2015, when I was learning film photography. On numerous occasions I have returned to continue finding new sites to photograph in the Appalachian foothills of Eastern Ohio.

Within the past 2 decades, two new technologies have combined to radiacally alter the economy of oil in the United States. 'High-volume, slick-water hydraulic fracturing' (also known as 'fracking'), in which high-pressure water with additives is used to increase fissures in primarily shale rock beds, and horizontal drilling using ‘kick off’ points, have allowed for an unprecedented degree of domestic oil extraction in the united states.

Fracking has been linked to man made geological instability, such as earthquakes in Oklahoma and other states not lying on natural faults, watershed contaminations and subsequent health complications across the country, often adversely affecting rural communities which lack the ability to represent themselves against large energy infrastructure giants such as Halliburton and Baker Hughes Company, etc. And yet geopolitically fracking has allowed the United States to resist the influence of foreign interests by bolstering its own oil reserves. It seems gone are the days of fighting abroad to defend oil fields for tenuous allies like Saudi Arabia.

In any case our relationship to oil is continuously evolving, and with significant developments and infrastructure changes surrounding renewable energies like wind and solar, the future of oil, and those who control its production remains to be seen.