The Relationship Between Violence, Trauma, and Memory in Doris Salcedo’s Artistic Practice: The “Unland” Series
Chapter from the book: Akyol Dayi, B. & Özyonar Çırak, B. (eds.) 2026. Visibility and Meaning in Contemporary Art.

Eda Seda Tosun
Giresun University

Synopsis

This study examines the artistic transformation of violence, trauma, and memory through objects in the works of Colombian artist Doris Salcedo. Focusing particularly on the ““Unland”” Series, tables of varying dimensions are perforated and filled with strands of human hair, materializing traumatic histories through the aesthetics of minimalism and conceptualism. Violence is understood as a complex phenomenon affecting the individual across physical, social, and psychological dimensions; trauma as a destructive response that fragments memory; and memory as a process that reconstructs traumatic experience. Salcedo translates the repercussions of the Colombian civil conflict into objects through interviews with victims; for instance, she brings the narratives of orphaned children into the public sphere by means of domestic furniture, thereby exposing intimate forms of destruction. Violence signifies fractured families and loss, while objects bear the traces of trauma, inviting the viewer into an ethical inquiry. The artist conveys violence indirectly through the fragility of materials, evoking empathy and bearing witness. In this way, art multiplies the narratives of victims, prompting confrontation and reactivating memory.Keywords: Violence, Memory, Trauma, Doris Salcedo, Sculpture

How to cite this book

Tosun, E. S. (2026). The Relationship Between Violence, Trauma, and Memory in Doris Salcedo’s Artistic Practice: The “Unland” Series. In: Akyol Dayi, B. & Özyonar Çırak, B. (eds.), Visibility and Meaning in Contemporary Art. Özgür Publications. DOI: https://doi.org/10.58830/ozgur.pub1343.c5342

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Published

June 29, 2026

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