“Crude” Series
Obscure is my understanding of oil, its origins; its raw potential; its economic, social and political relationships. What does oil look like? Diverse circumstances came together that made me curious about oil’s invisibility and ubiquitous influence in daily life. These circumstances climaxed in November of 2006 when a loved one returned home after his tour of duty in Iraq. At this time I began collecting my used motor oil and photographing it. By examining oil most immediate in our daily lives, the photographs make visible the slippery substance that has become as needed as water to sustain our contemporary lives.
The photographs entitled Crude (2007-2008) are light jet prints. The dark creamy images abstract scale and are a visual metaphor of the incomprehensible. The title creates a paradox between the refined oil photographed, its origins, its captivating surface and its obscene usage.
Burning Water (2007) is a video completed in collaboration with a colleague and sound artist, Jason Nanna. The four and a half minute video integrates my study of water, its elusive surface and potential, with my curiosity about oil–a complicated raw material that affects our economy and politics. -Sonja Thomsen
