Social History / Documentary photography
Oliver Bennett’s latest exhibition documents a year at Gordano Motorway Services
Following the continued success of his 2025 exhibition People on a Platform: One Year at Bristol Temple Meads which is still showing nearby at Sandwi café in Clock Tower Yard, Oliver Bennett is preparing to showcase the results of his latest photographic project.
From July 1, Greetings from Gordano: One Year at Gordano Services will be available to view at the brand-new Portishead café, The Refectory – just three miles from the service station itself.
“For most of us, a motorway service station is a place we pass through without a second thought”, Bennett muses. “It’s a stop on the way to somewhere else, a break in the journey before heading off to the real destination.”
However, in returning on numerous occasions to capture the everyday comings-and-goings at the site, he found it to be wholly more profound.
A bride to be at Gordano Services
“What I found in this most unlikely of places”, he concludes, “was a window like no other on to Britain today.
“People of every age and background, travelling for every imaginable reason, converged there at all times of the day or night.
A man holding his dog outside Gordano Services
“It showed something of how we live now, while also presenting an ongoing drama of individual stories.”
The images shown in Greetings from Gordano capture just some of those stories. “Together”, says Bennett, “they paint a picture of our everyday life – and show how the extraordinary so often reveals itself in the ordinary.”
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Greetings from Gordano: One Year at Gordano Services is at The Refectory, Marina Gardens, Portishead from July 1. Admission is free. For more information, visit oliverbennettphotography.com.
All photos: Oliver Bennett
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