Lakich Studio

Neon Sculpture

Next

Back

In the early days of the AIDS epidemic, thousands of men were martyred by a public health policy and a medical establishment which neglected to recognize a crisis on the principal that it affected only gay men. At the same time, before the scope of the catastrophe was well understood, many in the gay men’s community appeared willing to sacrifice their lives for the sake of practices equated with sexual liberation.      Lakich explores complex, double-edged aspects of martyrdom—imposed and embraced—in her AIDS series. The tail light represents the flaming heart common in pictures of saints and martyrs. “Vacancy” spells out the void left in private lives and the public sphere by the loss of so many individuals.
SACRED HEART, 1991
Aluminum, glass, Cadillac tail light, glass tubing with neon and argon gases, krypton crackle tube
58 x 48 x 15 in (147 x 122 x 39 cm)