Teresa Margolles facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Teresa Margolles
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Teresa Margolles
1963 (age 61–62) |
| Alma mater | National Autonomous University of Mexico |
| Known for | Photography Videography Performance art Conceptual art |
| Awards | Prince Claus Award (2012) Artes Mundi (2012) |
Teresa Margolles (born in 1963 in Culiacán) is a Mexican conceptual artist. She is also a photographer, videographer, and performance artist. Her art explores the reasons behind death and its effects on society.
Margolles shares what she learns from morgues in Mexico City and other parts of Latin America. She shows the deep sadness and social problems that come from deaths, especially those caused by violence. She uses materials from morgues to create art that makes people think and feel. Margolles believes that what happens inside morgues often shows the truth about what is happening outside in society. For example, in Mexico City, she noticed that many victims were from poorer communities. She once said, "Looking at the dead you see society."
Contents
Early Life and Art Journey
Teresa Margolles grew up in Sinaloa, Mexico. She saw violence and death early in her life. As a teenager, she moved to Mexico City with her sister to go to school. She was interested in photography but chose to study political science first. Later, she became interested in forensic science after spending time with medical students.
Margolles studied forensic pathology. She earned degrees in science communication and forensic medicine from the National Autonomous University of Mexico. She also studied art in Culiacán. For her, morgues show what society is like, especially in Mexican cities. She sees how poverty, political problems, and military actions lead to violence and death.
In 2009, Teresa Margolles said: "When I was working with SEMEFO I was very interested in what was happening inside the morgue and the situations that were occurring, let's say, a few meters outside the morgue, among family members and relatives. But Mexico has changed so violently that it's no longer possible to describe what's happening outside from within the morgue. The pain, loss and emptiness are now found in the streets."
How SEMEFO Collective Started
In 1990, Margolles helped start an art group called SEMEFO. This name is a play on words for the Mexican coroner's office. The group used items left over from crime scenes to talk about violence in the country. Arturo Angulo and Carlos Lopez were also key members, but many other artists joined the group at different times. Through their art, SEMEFO commented on social violence and death in Mexico.
Margolles left SEMEFO in the late 1990s. Since then, her own art has continued to explore themes of death, violence, and people being left out. She often uses materials from forensic science and human remains in her work.
Major Exhibitions and Public Art
In 2009, Margolles presented her show "What Else Could We Speak About" at the Mexico pavilion during the Venice Biennale. This is a very important art event.
In 2023, she was invited to show her art at the 16th Cuenca Biennale in Ecuador. There, she showed a piece called "El poder" (The Power).
In 2024, Margolles created a large artwork for the Fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square, London. This piece is called "Mil Veces un Instante (A Thousand Times in an Instant)". It is a huge cube weighing 3.3 metric tons. It is covered with 726 face masks. These masks were collected from trans, nonbinary, and gender nonconforming people in Brazil and Britain. The artwork reminds people of ancient tzompantl (skull racks). It is dedicated to Margolles' friend Karla La Borrada, a transgender woman who was murdered in Juárez in 2015. The Guardian newspaper praised the artwork, calling it a "haunting" memorial that shows the "melancholy dignity of London’s older public art."
Awards and Recognitions
In 2012, Teresa Margolles received two important awards. She won a Prince Claus Award from the Netherlands. She also won the 5th Artes Mundi prize for international contemporary art.
Her art is shown all over the world. The Tate museum in London has two of her works. One is "Flag I," which is a version of a piece shown at the Venice Biennale in 2009. The other is "37 Bodies." This artwork remembers Mexican murder victims using short pieces of surgical thread tied together to form a single line. Her work was also part of the main exhibition at the 2019 Venice Biennale, titled "May You Live in Interesting Times."
In 2016, she was part of the Current:LA Biennial. This event was organized by the Department of Cultural Affairs in Los Angeles.
Where Her Art Has Been Shown
Teresa Margolles has shown her art in many places around the world.
- 2004: Museum für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
- 2005: Guggenheim Museum, New York, U.S.
- 2008: Kunsthalle Krems, Krems an der Donau, Austria
- 2009: Venice Biennale (Mexican pavilion), Italy
- 2010: Fridericianum, Kassel, Margolles, Teresa. Frontera
- 2010: Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), Los Angeles, U.S.
- 2010: Sala de Arte Público Siqueiros (SAPS), Mexico City, Mexico
- 2011: MUSEION, Bolzano, Italy
- 2012: Lion Arts Centre, Adelaide, Australia
- 2012: El Museo Universitario Arte Contemporáneo (MUAC), Mexico City, Mexico
- 2014: Centro de Arte Dos de Mayo, Madrid, Spain
- 2014: Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Zurich, Switzerland
- 2015: Neuberger Museum of Art, New York, U.S.
- 2016: Galerie Peter Kilchmann, Zurich, Switzerland
- 2016: Colby College Museum of Art, Waterville, Maine, U.S.
- 2018: Padiglione D'Arte Contemporanea (PAC), Milan, Italy
- 2019: The Gift of Art, Pérez Art Museum Miami, Florida
- 2019: Venice Biennale
- 2024: Fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square, London.
Where You Can Find Her Art (Collections)
Teresa Margolles' art is part of permanent collections in museums and galleries worldwide.
- Pérez Art Museum Miami, Florida
- Princeton University Art Museum, New Jersey
- Museum of Modern Art, New York
- Centre Pompidou, Paris
- Colección Jumex, Mexico City
- Museum für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt, Germany
- Tate Modern, London, United Kingdom
See also
In Spanish: Teresa Margolles para niños
