Doris Salcedo uses her work to address the effects of war, political oppression and other acts of violence. she uses found materials within her works. Atrabilious (pictured below) is a response to the information she received from relatives and loved ones of those that disappeared during the Colombian civil war during the 1960’s. It is made out of shoes, cow bladder and surgical thread, assembled and hung upon a wall. The female shoes represent the missing bodies and the way they are presented is to parallel the reliquaries fro the remains of saints. I feel this piece is very haunting with the worn shoes ghosted behind the hazy film of the cow bladder.
Maeve Dawson Art 