Teresa Margolles

For years, the morgue has been the place Teresa Margolles has chosen to develop a courageous artistic and social investigation, in the context of which the artist has confronted the dramatic interweaving of crime and poverty. More recently, the crescendo of violence caused by the spread of drug trafficking in Mexico has led the artist to also address the public space of the city, still maintaining her focus on the bodies of the victims of violent crime and on the actions of the medical examiners who are called in to verify the cause of death.
Trepanaciones — Sonidos de la morgue (Trepanations — Sounds of the Morgue), consists of the recording of the sounds of medical instruments used by doctors during an autopsy, when they open up a victim’s skull. As in other works by this artist, the title provides some information that, while crucial for initial comprehension, still leaves to the viewer’s imagination many significant details. Reactions of horror, disgust, morbid curiosity, scientific attention or compassionate empathy are, in fact, equally possible, making the encounter with the work a strongly personal experience to which it is difficult to remain indifferent.
[M.B.]

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