Shibboleth by Doris Salcedo, originally uploaded by benaston.

A while back, when she was less well known, Salcedo made a big hole in the floor of our flat. It is art. (and we had a leak).

The concrete walls of the crevice are ruptured by a steel mesh fence, creating a tension between these principle elements of construction that resist yet depend on one another. By making the floor the principal focus, Salcedo dramatically shifts our perception from the inherent grandeur of the freshly painted walls, and exposes the dichotomy of wet and dry concrete.

In breaking open the floor of the Aston flat, Salcedo is was trying to expose a fracture in the pipes. Her work encourages us to confront uncomfortable truths about our history and about ourselves with absolute candidness, and without self-deception.

Salcedo is of course famous for a similar crevice installation in the Tate Modern.

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