Ellos también rezan
Artist name
Artist year born
1941
Artwork title translation
They also pray
Artwork material
ceramic
Artwork dimensions
height: 42cm
width: 26cm
depth: 36cm
width: 26cm
depth: 36cm
Artwork type (categories)
Sculpture
Accession method
Donated by Marisa Rueda 1997
Accession number
15-1997
Label text
As Rueda comments in her accompanying artist statement, this work was produced in order to address the fact that many members of the Catholic Church in Argentina, particularly those of high status, were complicit or directly involved in acts of torture and oppression carried out during the country's military dictatorship. The small sculpture depicts a military general praying. Rueda speaks of her incredulity at the possibility of such duality of morals that a general might momentarily forget his violent actions while praying, or vice versa, that his commitment to Christianity might be suspended while engaged in acts of torture. In producing the sculpture she has translated this two-facedness into a formal device, while the scale of the work lends it a domesticity suggestive of the general's praying as a concealed, intimate activity - an aspect that lends this figure a piteous sympathy.
Last updated date
2008