An accompanying work, Untitled (1995), was exhibited in the adjoining space: a stark metal bedframe with, in places, white shirts strapped to its bars. As with much of Salcedo’s work, this piece can be read as embodying several metaphorical elements. The white-shirt bindings resemble restraints, or wrappings used to splint fractured bone, and invoke ideas of incarceration or torture; but at the same time, they allude to a process of healing. In this context, the use of domestic objects destabilises our notion of the home as a place of safety. By using an unsettling combination of human remains and personal objects, Salcedo makes tangible the effect of violence on the individual.

The artist’s work is an ongoing exploration of how to address and articulate violence and loss. The objects she makes are works of intimate remembrance. Travelling through Colombia with humanitarian groups, Salcedo gains inspiration from the testimonies of people who are struggling to rebuild their lives after suffering the loss of a family member. She acts as a witness, meditating on the loss of freedom and human life in a country enduring a culture of collective fear—the result of years of civil war, drug-related crime, state-sanctioned torture and executions.