The Importance and Significance in Process

“I found the possibility of integrating my political awareness with sculpture. I discovered how materials have the capacity to convey specific meaning.

Doris Salcedo was born in 1958 in Bogotá, Colombia, she started her work in the 70s and attended Universidad de Bogotá Jorge Tadeo Lozano. While attending here she met Beatriz González. She took inspiration from her as González would take everyday objects and incorporate them into her work, which would later become Salcedo's signature style. She then attended New York University in the MFA program where she found it fascinating that the work of Joesph Beuys, took sociopolitical meaning and incorporated it into his art. Salcedo then started to use personal items and furniture in her work to display the message she wanted to deliver. Her work focuses on the violence and issues going on in her home country Colombia. (MoMAa 2022)

This is an example of her work, this piece might just look like a crack in the floor but it represents more. It represents the separation immigrants face, and the experiences they have coming from Third World Countries.

  Before we look at the work she has put out, along with the importance of telling these victims' stories uniquely, we must look at the ethical approach behind this. Salcedo is putting out and telling these stories of victims that have experienced a great deal of trauma to them. When an artist tackles issues like this, it must be done right, and with respect. Salcedo has been able to accomplish this within her work. For example, she can show that "dialogue with others is not based on comprehension or persuasion, but on the encounter between two people and the discovery of the other in the differences." (Alzate, Gastón, and Marcia Olander. 2013). Salcedo puts herself in an unfamiliar position by listening to these stories and understanding the difference between her and the victims. She uses that when working in the process of creating her art.

A great example of her telling victim's stories is in this art piece. She uses shoes from women that have disappeared due to the conflict going on in her country. The shoes allow the victims to be still alive, through her painting despite these people being unknown and undefined in the art. It shows the importance of retelling these victims' stories by making bodies within the art through items without an actual person present.

The process behind this art piece came from a tragic incident that happened in Columbia. A massacre among workers of banana plantains occurred, when they were taken from their homes. Salcedo took shirts that represent what the workers would wear, which is an example of showing the body within the work. She used the absence of a person, in exchange for something that represents the victims. Another thing to notice is the clean and neatly stacked use of the shirts, rather than the messy and bloody use of them. As, "a wife's act of ironing and stacking shirts, a quiet ritual of everyday domestic life" (Salcedo, Doris, and Saskia Bos 2015). This is an interesting idea to consider when looking at a piece like this. Salcedo took a tragic and bloody incident and used a clean and simple way to display and tell the victim's story. This is an important step she takes when it comes to the process of putting this work together She makes it important that people do not forget these victims.

This is a six-piece project consisting of sculptors, representing the women she interviewed who were forced out of their homes. ( La Casa Viuda V was destroyed by the artist) (Salcedo, Doris, and Saskia Bos. Doris Salcedo 2015). The project consists of doors that are not connected to any type of building. It also displays small items that one might find in a house. These empty pieces of a home, display the remnants and loss these women faced, from being sent away from their homes. It can show that Salcedo, took the idea of loss pieces to represent the women.

"acción de duelo"

Noviembre 6 y 7 Is a piece that consists of multiple chairs hanging from the side of a building. Each chair represents a victim of the massacre at the Colombian Palace of Justice (Laureate 2016). This was in remembrance of the 17th anniversary of this tragic event. Salcedo refers to these types of events as "acción de duelo" or acts of mourning (Salcedo, Doris, and Saskia Bos. Doris Salcedo 2015), as the date refers to her affiliation with public actions

It is important to realize that while Salcedo has done a lot of good for her community in representing the victims, and showing the harsh conditions of Columbia, what about everyone else? How does her work help those who live there and experience this stuff firsthand? Beyond the victims she has encountered, and or heard about there are people who may not even live in Columbia, but in another country with similar issues. It is important to realize that her work probably helped them as well, to see someone make these sculptures and understand that an artist understands these issues and wants to tackle these. As "art therapy involves visual expression on different levels of complexity" (Lusebrink, Vija B. 2004), this quote comes from a paper that involves art expression and how it helps those using it as a therapy method. I think it is important to understand that Salcedo, who listens to these stories from people who suffer, is probably having to deal with a great number of emotions. Listening to these stories that are happening right now in one's hometown, is a lot to process and deal with. This is why she expresses this hurt and the victim's hurt with art. Along with those who view her work, and might be in a similar situation, while they are not the ones making the art, they can use it as a gateway, and a coping mechanism.

Here are more works from the artist.