



Nipple (Salute to Zilia Sanchez)
2022
Nipple (Salute to Zilia Sanchez) extends Carolina Caycedo's longstanding engagement with water, collective labor, and the bodies of rivers into a deeply personal act of homage. Completed in 2022, the work assembles artisanal hand-dyed cast nets alongside wood, steel, acrylic paint, rubber-coated steel clips, and lead weights into a sculptural form that simultaneously evokes the erotic geometries of Cuban artist Zilia Sanchez and the communal fishing traditions Caycedo has documented across Latin American waterways. The title is declarative and tender, refusing to separate the political from the bodily, or the ecological from the art-historical. At 124.5 by 119.4 by 48.3 centimeters, the work occupies physical space with a quiet confidence, its nets gathering depth and shadow as light moves across their dyed surfaces. Caycedo sourced these nets from fishing communities whose livelihoods are threatened by dam construction and river privatization, making the material itself a carrier of testimony. The dyeing process, carried out by hand, introduces warm chromatic variation that softens the industrial associations of lead weights and steel hardware, producing an object that feels both crafted and charged. The salute embedded in the title situates this piece within a lineage of feminist sculptural practice, acknowledging Sanchez's pioneering exploration of the female body as architectural and cosmological form. Collectors acquire not only a formally resolved and materially rich work, but a statement about solidarity across generations of artists who have understood the body and the environment as inseparable territories of resistance and reverence.
- Medium
- Artisanal hand-dyed cast nets, wood, steel, acrylic paint, rubber coated steel clips, lead weights
- Overall
- Signed
- Yes
- Spotted At
- Gallery · Instituto de Visión
More by Carolina Caycedo



Start the Discussion
Request access to join the discussion