Power Plant / Industrial Structure

A tall cylindrical stack rises on the viewer’s left and continues beyond the top edge. In the center, pipes, crossbeams, platforms and stairs overlap in an exposed framework. On the right, a warm pink-tan building presents rows of windows, some dark and some catching light.

A nearby concrete canopy cuts from higher on the left to lower on the right, concealing the structures’ bases. The upward camera angle and slanting foreground edge emphasize height and compress several layers of construction into the frame. Clear blue sky remains visible around the upper structures. No people are discernible at this scale.

Three different vertical systems compete for attention: the smooth stack at left, the open lattice of pipes and platforms in the center, and the solid window grid at right. The slanted canopy hides their bases and prevents a complete view of how they connect.

A stack, pipes, platforms and a windowed industrial building rise above the concrete shelter at Al-Mussaib Thermal Power Plant. Bass made the photograph after stepping out from beneath the covered vehicle position and aiming upward.

My unit was assigned to protect the plant and keep it from being damaged or taken offline. At the time, I understood it to supply about one-third of Iraq's electricity.

I turned twenty-two while we were stationed at the plant. A care package from home included a bottle of Crown Royal, and Tim Jones and I took it to a dock extending over the Euphrates, where we listened to music from a CD player connected to a small speaker. On another day, several of us played soccer on a broad concrete pad beside the river.

Photograph by Kenny Bass.

Photograph 10 of 15.

• The shelter's long concrete roof edge crosses the lower-left foreground.
• The plant's smokestacks appear on the distant horizon in Foreign Armor I, photographed across the Euphrates.

The exact plant subsystem shown and its actual share of Iraq's electricity in 2003 have not been established.