Highlights of the MOLAA Collection
DORIS SALCEDO
(Colombia, 1958)
Shibboleth I, 2007
Archival pigment inkjet print on Hahnemuhle Photo Rag
Dimensions: 32.375 x 25 inches
MOLAA Permanent Collection. Gift of Carolyn Alexander, New York.
Accession: 2010
ABOUT THE ARTWORK
Doris Salcedo is well-known for her thought-provoking, site-specific installation works that reflect on global violence and injustice from the perspective of the marginalized. Shibboleth I is the first in a series of four photograph prints—including Shibboleth II, Shibboleth III, and Shibboleth IV—that depict a large crack on the floor of the Turbine Hall of Tate Modern London from different angles. The series as a whole is edition number six out of ten artist’s proofs and forty-five prints. The photographs were digitally rendered by the artist as part of the design process for the final installation of the same title.
Shibboleth (2007) was an installation in which the artist created the deep fissure in the floor of Turbine Hall, commissioned for Tate Modern’s Unilever Series. The title refers to an Old Testament story in which a group of outsiders were identified for their inability to pronounce ‘shibboleth’ and then executed as enemies. A shibboleth, therefore, represents power, judgement, and violence. For Salcedo, the crack is about disruption and facing the presence of the marginalized, particularly the unwelcomed presence of immigrants in Europe, historically and at the time of the installation. The installation’s presentation encouraged viewers to look below and think from the perspective of those who are affected by segregation, immigration, and the divisions between race, class, and legal status. After the show, the crack was sealed and a “permanent scar” remained, keeping the memory of victims present.
Doris Salcedo, Shibboleth I, 2007
BIOGRAPHY
Doris Salcedo is a Colombian visual artist whose work primarily consists of sculptures and large-sale, site-specific installations that aim to give voice and visibility to victims of violence and suffering. Salcedo draws from personal experiences with the Colombian Civil War (1948-2016), but her works communicate a universal sense of grief, mourning, and loss. Salcedo earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Tadeo Lozano University in Bogotá in 1980 and a Master of Fine Arts degree from New York University in 1984. She has been inspired by artists who used art as a strategy to promote political awareness and sought to incorporate powerful messaging into her own works. Salcedo has received several awards, including a Solomon R. Guggenheim Fellowship in 1995, and has done solo and group exhibitions internationally, notably at the Tate Modern in London, as well as biennials in São Paulo ‘98, Liverpool 99’ and Istanbul ‘03, among others. Her work can be found in the collections of museums such as the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Museum of Latin American Art in Long Beach.
