The Refinery Project is a series of industrial landscape portraits photographed at the Phillips 66 Wood River Refinery in South Roxana, Illinois. The exhibit, inspired by Allen Ginsberg’s poem, “In Back of the Real,” explores contrasting concepts of beauty. The project is a collaboration between photographer Tom Atwood and amateur models, who posed at the oil refinery, located in a suburban area near St. Louis.
Nearly 40 women participated in the 2013 art project, which was interrupted six times by local police and refinery security guards, who objected to photography near the massive industrial property, citing security and proprietary concerns. At one point, guards and police told Atwood he would be placed on the Homeland Security List, and would be arrested if seen again near the refinery with a camera.
Eventually, near the end of the six-month project, Phillips 66 executives agreed to allow some photography for the exhibit in designated areas on or near refinery property. However, most of the photographs were taken on public property—roads and streets bordering the refinery in the communities of Roxana, South Roxana, Wood River and Hartford.
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