Doris Salcedo weaves a full-size house from human hair
Colombian artist Doris Salcedo brings House to White Cube in New York after three years of collective work. Woven from human hair, the sculpture addresses the loss of homes through deliberate destruction. Smaller rice-and-hair objects accompany it, extending her attention to the domestic routines displaced people lose.
Arts··Evening
A house takes shape in hair
Colombian sculptor Doris Salcedo is bringing House, a full-size structure woven from human hair, to White Cube’s New York gallery. The work addresses the destruction of homes and the displacement that follows.[1], [2]
A large team spent three years knotting individual strands into net-like surfaces. The familiar shape of a triangle above a square becomes darker and denser toward its base. Salcedo connects the loss of a home with the loss of community, privacy and places to cook and sleep.[1]
Rice grains become damaged vessels
Another installation, Grains of Sorrow, uses rice and hair. Assistants remove starch from grains, drill tiny holes and thread hairs through them. The mesh is formed around damaged pots, pans and bowls. Engineers and architects have worked on structural problems, while Salcedo says the unfamiliar materials required new tools and methods.[1]
Earlier works inform the new structure
Salcedo previously inserted hair into altered tables for Unland, made in 1995–98. Her Uprooted, dated 2020–22, used 804 dead trees to form a house addressing climate displacement. For House she bought hair online and scrutinised certificates amid abuses in the trade. She describes the intensive collective labour as part of the work’s meaning.[1]
