Basin
- Artist: Kiki Smith
- Date: 1990
- Medium: Gypsum plaster and cotton gauze
- Dimensions: object: 330 × 520 × 1070 mm
- Museum: Tate Modern
- Collection record: Tate Modern website
Listen to the free audio guide
About this artwork
This is the “Basin” by Kiki Smith. Created in 1990, it’s a life‑size gypsum plaster and cotton gauze cast of Smith’s own body lying on the floor in a fetal position. The piece turns the body into a womb‑like container, a fragile material that both protects and threatens. It invites viewers to feel the tension between nurturing and vulnerability, while reminding us of the politics of women’s bodies and reproductive rights.
Smith drew on personal loss – her father’s death in 1980 and her sister’s battle with AIDS in 1988 – to explore mortality and the body’s porous nature. The title hints at the cast’s role as a vessel for fluids, echoing the social impact of the AIDS crisis that claimed her sister.
Presented as part of the D.Daskalopoulos Collection Gift in 2023, “Basin” has been shown at venues ranging from the Saatchi Gallery to the Guggenheim Bilbao, underscoring its resonant, universal message about the human condition.
See it in person
Basin is in the collection of Tate Modern on Bankside, London — free to enter. Point your phone at any artwork there and audioguide.london plays a free audio guide in six languages — no app download needed.
