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The latest Fourth Plinth commission 'Mil Veces un Instante (A Thousand Times in an Instant)’ by Mexican artist Teresa Margolles was unveiled on Wednesday 18.09.2024. The monolithic sculpture was made with plaster cast molds of the faces of 726 transgender people from Mexico and the UK. The molds were made by applying plaster directly onto each individual’s face. The resulting object is both a visual record of their respective features and, imbued with hair and skin cells, a material infusion of their physicality.
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Teresa Margoles stands in front of the Fourth Plinth displaying Mil Veces un Instante (A Thousand Times in an Instant), 2024. Photographed by Holly Revell
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Process of face casting by Teresa Margolles at QUEERCIRCLE. Photorgaphed by Anita SZ
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Prior to the unveiling, we held an event at QUEERCIRCLE for all UK-based participants came together and celebrate the fruition of this project. They were presented with signed copies of their portraits captured by Teresa, marking a special moment of shared memory and connection. A testament to the ways art can bridge personal stories and collective experience, this gathering highlighted the collaborative spirit and deep emotional resonance of Mil Veces un Instante across the trans community.
The Fourth Plinth was commissionned by the Mayor of London is in collaboration with James Cohan Gallery in New York, QUEERCIRCLE and Micro Rainbow, with production supported by the White Wall Company.
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IN THE PRESS
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Image Credit: Rafael Burillo
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Margolles engages in fieldwork-driven artmaking in the streets of border cities in northern Mexico, such as Ciudad Juárez, whose location in economic relationship to the United States has ushered in decades of conflict due to organized crime. Working closely with communities who are precluded from access to systems of social care, Margolles explores the relationship between violence and marginality, especially in light of gender.
Her methodical research develops into object-based interventions: photographs of trans sex workers, many of whom are now dead, standing in the ruins of demolished nightclubs where they once worked; or posters with the faces of missing women affixed to glass panels that rattle to the sound of a train carrying manufactured goods from Juárez to El Paso. Exhibited internationally, her works underscore the influences of global trade and economic policy on conflict in Latin America.
