Doris Salcedo: Palimpsesto

Along her career, the artist Doris Salcedo (Bogotá, 1958), based on an expanded conception of sculpture and supported by a rigorous work of experiential research, has developed a complex and multifaceted work around political violence and suffering of those who have been excluded from decent living conditions. “Palimpsesto” the title of her show at the Palacio de Cristal, is a paradigmatic example of Doris Salcedo‘s characteristic modus operandi – her projects tend to be long-term and require a complex and meticulous work of conceptualization, research and execution – as well as her decided commitment to “present violence without violence”, to make the pain perceptible without the need to show it explicitly. Drops of water emerge from the floor of the Palace, slowly coming together to form the names of men and women who have drowned trying to reach Europe in search of a better life. The Colombian artist thus reveals one of the most dramatic and ignominious events of our recent history: the death of thousands of people in the waters of the Mediterranean in the face of indifference, when not (in) conscious complicity, of an anesthetized and dangerous European society drift towards an identity closure.