Author Description

"Oil is magical and insidious. As the most valuable, highly coveted and finite natural resource, it was and continues to be a powerful agent of geopolitical upheaval and socio-economic transformation. Oil has been a trigger for misguided colonial adventures, imperial endeavours, wars and coups, a catalyst for nation building, modernisation and development, and a cause of terrible ecological disasters and irreversible climate change. Though it is the essential fuel of capitalist modernity, literally propelling the unrelenting expansion that characterises this period, it remains elusive. Crude offers a corrective, making oil visible through artworks that engage with the many archives, infrastructures, and technologies it has produced" --Back cover