Doris Salcedo "Untilted" 1998

Untitled, 1998.

Wood, cement and metal. 2140 x 1495 x 570 mm. Doris Salcedo.

In the 1990’s Salcedo made a series of sculptures using furniture; in Untitled, 1998, by using wood, cement and metal, she filled and hermetically sealed a wardrobe with concrete, thus making it useless and inaccessible. In her sculptures Salcedo uses a variety of techniques, first she deconstructs an object then reconstructs it in a new way which ultimately renders the object useless. In Unland: Irreversible Witness, she drilled hundreds of holes in the table top which were woven with human hair. Casa Viuda VI, 1995, is made by fusing a cabinet with bone and clothing then forcibly attaching it to an unhinged door as an image of a widow’s house. Salcedo seems to transform ordinary, familiar, and comforting objects, into those of horror.
The resulting works suggest the violation of domestic space and the human body. Rather than an empty space waiting to be filled with worldly belongings or childish fantasies, the wardrobe becomes hermetically sealed and inaccessible. The configuration of armoire and chair is akin to that of a Pietà, the traditional depiction of the Madonna holding the body of the dead Christ on her lap.