ENERGY CRISIS

ENERGY CRISIS Pictured at left is a sucker rod oil pump. Pictured at right is a warped version of a Malcolm Browne 1963 photo from Vietnam.

Sucker rod pumps are used to draw subterranean fluid to the surface. The pump is metronomic and the elegantly balanced sculptural portion that swings up and down is referred to as the "horses head".

1963 was the beginning of rapid escalation of United States presence in Vietnam. On June 11, 1963, 67 year old Thich Quang Duc, a Buddhist monk, arrived by car to downtown Saigon, poured gasoline over himself and burned himself to death. This was to protest the predominantly Catholic South Vietnamese government's persecution of Buddhists. His sacrifice was portrayed as communist propaganda by the United States military, rather than religious and political protest. Other self-immolations followed.

The apposition of these images is chilling because the silhouette of the pump is strangely anthropomorphic and figurally similar to this image of the Reverend Quang Duc. Bringing them together, I imply a relationship between political power, struggles for limited natural resources and strategic positioning, and brave human responses to oppression.