Abstract of the accomplished photographic work
The world offshore is a world unknown. At least for most of us. Fascinated by the flashing lights in the distance, Tanja Engelberts (NL) became interested in the offshore oil and gas industry.
The work is a photographic exploration of Engelberts’ archive, consisting of documentary photographs taken during trips on maintenance vessels and on the platforms, as well as historical images collected over the years.
From optimism and the feeling that man had conquered nature in the fifties, to a more critical view on the fossil fuel industry and its future: the destruction of the first platforms. Each chapter has its own visual language and design, highlighting the raw and complex structures on the sea while evoking a sense of awe and guilt.
Forgotten Seas is a testament of seventy years of gas and oil drilling in the North Sea, an industrial landscape that is slowly disappearing.
Description of the project you intend to pursue through the Prize
The Field investigates the Groningen (NL) landscape, where decades of gas extraction caused human-induced earthquakes, turning the ground beneath residents into a threat. Now that production has ceased, the countryside remains empty and hollow.
Through a journalistic approach—meeting residents, geologists, and workers, conducting site visits, and spending time on location—I will document the field’s history using private archives and my own photography. The project gives voice to the gas itself, portraying it as an exhausted body that has, in turn, become a foe to its inhabitants.
The book is structured around four key characters: residents, the government, companies, and the gas itself. Each will have a distinct (visual) language and perspective, reflected in both photography and design. By experimenting with landscape photography, the book will bring these narratives to life, offering a deeper understanding of the field’s transformation and its lasting impact.