Hommage to the First Monk Immolating Himself in Saigon 1966

Curator: What a powerful print! This is Adja Yunkers' lithograph from 1966, “Hommage to the First Monk Immolating Himself in Saigon”. Editor: Striking. Immediately I see high contrast – the bright, almost electric yellow against stark black, like a…lightning strike. Curator: That visual tension really gets at the heart of the subject matter. Yunkers made this piece in response to the horrifying image of Thich Quang Duc's self-immolation, a protest against the persecution of Buddhists in Vietnam. Editor: And lithography…such a physical, grounded process. The grain of the stone, the press... It forces you to think about the labour and the weight of making an image like this, bearing witness through material. Curator: Absolutely. The abstract shapes feel like echoes of that original photo. See how the yellow form flickers – it could be interpreted as the outline of flames, consuming a figure shrouded in darkness. I also note that the choice of abstract forms makes it somehow universal and timeless, while maintaining that intimate spark. Editor: There is very little to distract from its focus, even the colours contribute. Yet this stark simplicity is also very telling: consider the way such potent symbols, charged with political and ethical urgency, get simplified and circulated as prints within a booming Pop Art market! A tension for the viewer, there, certainly. Curator: It’s as if he wanted to capture the visceral feeling rather than a literal depiction. Like memory distilled down to its purest, most haunting essence. Editor: That negative space on the right really contributes. An active element that draws the eye and intensifies the drama, for sure. The tension is palpable in the composition itself. Curator: Seeing it again now, the strength of such a simplified symbolic rendition, within a historical context of massive change and discord, resonates as a poignant meditation. Editor: Yes, exactly. Thinking about art as material culture really helps grapple with the work’s social impact—and even its afterlives in collections like ours!