Doris Salcedo describes her work as ‘a topology of mourning’; in each of her sculptures, installations and public projects Salcedo bears witness to life that has become the casualty of a political agenda. Living and working in Bogotá, Salcedo draws on her own experience of Colombia’s violent political history, as well as responding to wider global concerns. She focuses on those who have disappeared or are politically invisible. Reflecting on a contemporary human condition scarred by war, migration, economic challenges and personal loss, the artist’s practice is further informed by a deep engagement with philosophy, literature and poetry. Her solo exhibitions include Fondation Beyeler, Basel (2023) and Glenstone, Travilah, Maryland (2022), among many others.

Italian-born art historian, curator, and critic based in Venice, Francesca Pietropaolo has held curatorial positions at the Walker Art Center, MoMA, Fondazione La Biennale di Venezia, and Fondation Louis Vuitton. From 2015-2018 she co-curated for the Stavros Niarchos Foundation, Athens and in 2019 she co-curated the exhibition Artists Need to Create on the Same Scale That Society Has the Capacity to Destroy: Mare Nostrum, organized by the Brooklyn Rail, a Collateral Event of the Venice Biennale. She is the author of numerous essays, and is the editor of Ellsworth Kelly and Writings on Art 1980-2005 / Writings on Art 2006-2021, the first two-volume anthology of writings by Robert Storr, among others. She is an Editor-at-Large for the Rail.