[Audio Guide]
With small horns and what appears to be a long tail, a vulnerable looking figure forces their right arm into their own eye. The sculpture is seemingly slender and fragile, yet highly disturbing to our sense of our own bodies. As well as being a common female name, the title Dolores also means "distress" in Spanish. Leiko Ikemura moved to Spain in 1972 to study at the Academia de Bellas Artes in Seville. She later moved to Switzerland, and currently lives in Germany. In recent years, she has expressed her unique, introspective worldview using various techniques in a variety of media, including painting, sculpture, and photography. As someone who has endured various difficulties and anxieties moving throughout Europe, Ikemura has discovered a manner of direct expression, and raises questions of personal identity through projecting herself into her work.
