75 Reasons to Live: Michelle Barger on Doris Salcedo’s Unland: irreversible witness

Michelle Barger, deputy head of conservation at SFMOMA, elucidates the painstaking labor behind Colombian artist Doris Salcedo's Unland: irreversible witness (1995-98). “It's really natural to want to forget a tragedy, to bury it, to push it away — or in fact to not even think about it, in a country like Colombia. I think what Doris does is try to return the dignity of that person's life through these works,“ she says.Remember the end of Manhattan, when Woody Allen asks himself what makes life worth living? In January 2010, during SFMOMA's three-day 75th anniversary celebration, 75 people from the Bay Area creative community gave extremely short talks — 7.5 minutes or less! — on a single collection work of their choosing. Someone called it “manic splendor“ — and it was. You can view all of the talks on The Anniversary Show exhibition page. Or look for them here, on Open Space.