Mary Sibande South Africa, b. 1982
Let slip the dogs of war, 2015
Fiberglass and paint
Variable dimensions
Unique
7671
Copyright Mary Sibande, 2015
In this stunning sculpture, Let slip the dogs of war, we see Mary Sibande's avatar Sophie dressed in purple, running and accompanied by a pack of red dogs. The piece...
In this stunning sculpture, Let slip the dogs of war, we see Mary Sibande's avatar Sophie dressed in purple, running and accompanied by a pack of red dogs. The piece is a companion to the sculpture Cry Havoc. The titles of these works come from a line in Shakespeare's Julius Caesar—"with a monarch’s voice Cry “Havoc!” and let slip the dogs of war, that this foul deed shall smell above the earth"—spoken by Marc Anthony as he kneels of the dead body of Caesar and vows revenge on his assassins. In this sculpture, Sibande is showing Sophie transitioning from her Purple phase—which casts Sophie as a revolutionary figure of protest, evoking the Purple Rain protests in South Africa—to her Red phase, inspired by blood and anger.