This is an installation that features a large crack that begins as a hairline and then widens to rwo feet in depth
The floor of the museum was opened and a cast of Colombian rock faces was inserted
The work stresses the interaction between sculpture and space
Context
Doris Salcedo is a Colombian sculptor
Shibboleth: a word or custom that a person not familiar with a language may mispronounce; used to identify foreigners or people of another class
A shibboleth is used to exclude people from joining a group
Bible source: Judgres 12:6: “They said, ‘All right, say Shibboleth.’ If he said, ‘Shibboleth,’ because he could not pronounce the word correctly, they seized him and killed him at the fords of the Jordan. Forty-two thousand Ephraimites were killed at that tie”
The crack emphasizes the gap in relationships
The work references racism and colonialism; keeping people away or separating them
The installation is now sealed, but it exists as a scar; it commemorates the lives of the underclasses.
