With this sculpture, Hatoum has turned an ordinary domestic object into something menacing by enlarging an egg slicer to measure four feet in length. The artist began to use kitchen utensils such as graters and colanders in her work during the 1990s, describing them as ‘exotic objects.’ They represented the traditional feminine domain of the kitchen, objects which traditionally kept the housewife tied to the home, yet greatly enlarged they assume a threatening aspect. Slicer has been made on a human scale, with its slicing blades raised menacingly. This darkly humorous work is influenced by Surrealism – Magritte is one of Hatoum’s favourite artists and his paintings which distort scale are a predecessor of this work.