Two Skins

In the mixed-media sculpture Two Skins, a leather tent-like object is suspended from wires and hovers over a metal plate on the ground. Visible on the floor of the open tent is a photograph that depicts an extreme close-up of the surface of the artist’s own skin, peppered with freckles, moles, and hair. The juxtaposition of leather and human skin—the “two skins” of the work’s title—also serves to conflate the corporeal with the architectural, as elements associated with the body are given a new structural form. For Henríquez, the association of the body with shelter relates to her experiences of geographic displacement as an immigrant.

The organic leather contrasts with the industrial metal sheet, while both take the form of basic geometric shapes. In its placement directly on the floor, Two Skins shares much with Minimalist and Post-Minimalist sculpture, requiring the visitor to walk around the work to fully take it in.