The year 1979 marked the second oil crisis in the West, (1973 was the first), after a supply shortage following the Iranian Revolution. This shortfall caused a spike in oil prices, which in turn led to recession in Canada and the United States. Citizens of both countries were encouraged to reduce their wasteful consumption of energy. In Robert’s photograph, a hose sprays foam insulation between the outer and inner walls of an older home. A great percentage of Halifax homes, heated by expensive oil furnaces, had little effective insulation; many still relied on newspaper and seaweed beneath a thin coat of plaster.

Robert’s photograph shows a run-down clapboard house receiving a form of life support via a large and curious-looking hose. We are not shown what the hose attaches to on the other end. Every element of the image is rectangular except for the hose, which makes it seem all the more like a foreign object. It is both a threatening snake and a life-sustaining umbilical cord, the hose draws attention to our collective vulnerability around the need for affordable energy.