• Ute Brunzel, © MHK
  • Thou-less by Doris Salcedo

When in the presence of Doris Salcedo’s artwork, it should be understood that though the pieces were created and overseen by Salcedo, the work isn’t exclusively hers. The stainless-steel fused chairs of Thou-less or the encased shoes within the gallery walls of Atrabiliarios don’t really belong to her—they belong to the countless individuals she’s interviewed, as well as the thousands who have suffered from a war-torn country. They belong to human beings, and all those who have withstood heartbreak and death.

  • courtesy of Diane and Bruce Halle
  • One of the shirts in Disremembered

Disremembered, Salcedo’s most recent work, consists of three sculptures, made from almost 12,000 sewing needles and raw silk, suspended like phantoms in the gallery; it explicitly reveals Salcedo’s intricate and delicate approach to her art. At first the needles look like coarse, short hairs, but upon closer study, they take on their true form—sharp, finger-pricking barbs. The glinting, gray-gradient tunics would make for a painful fashion choice. They hang obtrusively on the gallery walls as if daring an unsuspecting patron to try on the perilous threads.

Each of Salcedo’s works is like a visual and material oration of loss, suffused with feeling—especially in Unland (1995-98), which is three distinct works: Unland: The Orphan’s Tunic, Unland: Irreversible Witness, and Unland: The Audible Mouth. Each piece combines two contrasting tables—each with its own individual characteristics of human hair and raw silk, like an intangible fabric of bodily matter—to create one extensive form. “Unland” is a term concocted by Salcedo: it implies displacement, and the works are a reaction to the dialogues and exchanges Salcedo had with Colombian orphans who witnessed the murder of their parents. The tables are unnerving, because of the human essence, stretched, sewn, and wrapped into slabs of wood by tiny holes drilled into the surface. They are captivating parts of a terrible whole, an expression of rupture and fissure within a damaged family.