...y después se erigen monumentos
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ceramic
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width: 60cm
depth: 61cm
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Marisa Rueda constructed this fragmented body from fragile ceramic; the outer structure that frames and supports it is made from charred wood, found in the street. The work was made in England in 1976, and confronted the fact that in Rueda's home country, Argentina, torture was being used as a weapon of the military's dirty war. With its charred pedestal and broken body, it is a monument that stands in opposition to the usual nature of the public war memorial. Where in this tradition of public celebration the breastplate would act as a symbol of love, courage and faith, particularly in Judeo-Christian contexts, here what we see is an incomplete torso, a bundle of once-living flesh. Against the academic ideal of a anatomical study, Rueda constructs a monument to the fragmented body. The tyranny of glorious social spectacle collapses, becoming a true, visceral monument to the violent loss of individual lives.
Carlos Molina