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Details
- Date
- 2007
- Media category
- Sculpture
- Materials used
- wood, concrete, metal and fabric
- Dimensions
- 189.0 x 233.0 x 82.5 cm
- Signature & date
Not signed. Not dated.
- Credit
- Purchased 2007
- Location
- Not on display
- Accession number
- 364.2007
- Copyright
- © Doris Salcedo
- Artist information
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Doris Salcedo
Works in the collection
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About
Doris Salcedo traces the distortion of reality that occurs when power and violence are used as means of social control. What comfort resides in the bed you once shared with a missing lover? What pleasure can one take in the intimate possessions of one’s spouse or child when they have been dragged away with no explanation? Objects retain traces of those who have used them. It is difficult to throw away such traces of an absent loved one, and yet it is equally difficult to continue using them as though nothing had happened.
In this series wardrobes and beds are rendered monstrous by their merger. All the holes, gaps and cracks in the wood have been meticulously sealed with white cement. It is as if they have been rendered blind and mute, just like those whose silence is ensured by the threat of further violence. This careful sealing of the cracks is also read as an attempt to keep something out or in. But in this case the ‘something’ is elusive, like the nebulous fear of some unforeseen tragedy. Salcedo’s fusion of inanimate matter and human remains provokes a sense of abomination.
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Exhibition history
Shown in 4 exhibitions
Doris Salcedo, White Cube, London, 15 Sep 2007–20 Oct 2007
When silence falls, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 19 Dec 2015–29 May 2016
Some mysterious process, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 01 Jun 2020–13 Sep 2020
Dreamhome: stories of art and shelter, Art Gallery of New South Wales, North Building, Sydney, 03 Dec 2022–27 Aug 2023
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Bibliography
Referenced in 3 publications
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Anthony Bond, Look, 'Doris Salcedo acquisition', pg.15-18, Sydney, May 2008, 15 (colour illus.), 18.
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Cara Pinchbeck (Curator), When silence falls, Sydney, 2015, 35 (colour illus.).
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White Cube, Doris Salcedo, London, 2007, 11 (colour illus.), 17 (colour illus.). The reproduction on page 17 is an installation view
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