Image
- Artist: Vlassis Caniaris
- Date: 1971
- Medium: Wood, particle board, printed papers, 2 suitcases, metal and textile
- Dimensions: displayed: 540 x 2230 x 1332 mm
- Museum: Tate Modern
- Collection record: Tate Modern website
Listen to the free audio guide
About this artwork
This is 'Image' by Vlassis Caniaris. The piece is a 1971 installation that puts two old suitcases and wooden crates on sheets of newspaper laid over particle‑board. The newspapers, pressed like a floor, cover the surface and frame the scene. Caniaris chose the suitcases not just as furniture but as symbols of the migrant workers he saw in Europe after WWII, when borders tightened and families were uprooted. The boxes hold personal histories, like talismans, that migrants carry across borders. He was inspired by the Paris nouveau réaliste artists who used real objects in art. The whole setup feels like a small, silent drama that invites you to imagine the lives of those trapped in the global migration process. It’s a powerful reminder of how objects carry stories of displacement and identity.
See it in person
Image 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.
