Abstract sculptor Melvin Edwards began working with barbed wire as his chosen medium in 1969. Although visually compelling, barbed wire historically symbolizes brutality. To Edwards, it represents slavery and detainment. He uses this material to create “spaces of risk” by confining it to a wall or welded metal. In describing the medium, Edwards has said, “Wire, like most linear materials, has a history both as obstacle and enclosure, but barbed wire has the added capacity of painfully dynamic and aggressive resistance if contacted unintelligently.”