Teresa Margolles Unveils Fourth Plinth Commission

Teresa Margolles b. 1963, Mexico Follow +

Mexican artist Teresa Margolles said she wanted to highlight Latin American and Mexican trans women ‘in a country that doesn’t care about their life and fate’ at the unveiling of her Fourth Plinth commission on Wednesday morning.

‘We trans women, like everybody from our society, deserve much-needed attention. Many of the faces that you can see here now belong to girls that are probably not here anymore, or maybe have been forced to disappear, because of transphobia, hate, and indifference,’ she said.

Titled Mil Veces un Instante (A Thousand Times in an Instant) (2024), the sculpture’s plaster casts have been individually named and numbered; an identification which will weather with the elements over the next two years.

‘Every face has a story attached,’ the 61-year-old artist told The Guardian.

Over her four-decade career, Margolles has examined the social causes and consequences of death, destruction, displacement, discrimination, and misery through her work. Her Fourth Plinth commission was inspired by the Mesoamerican tradition of tzompantli—racks that were used to display the skulls of sacrificed prisoners of war.

‘We all came together to lend our faces to Margolles as an ode to those we have lost,’ said one UK participant, ’...but also, to show that we stand united, proud and stronger together. Having this work installed in the beating heart of London jogs our collective memory that above all, our city values diversity and inclusivity... And we will fight for our convictions with the tools of creativity.’

Margolles is the 15th artist to have an installation on the Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square. This year marks 25 years since the first work, Ecce Homo by Mark Wallinger, was unveiled in 1999.

In March, it was announced that Tschabalala Self and Andra Ursuţa won the Fourth Plinth commission. Self’s Lady in Blue will be unveiled in Trafalgar Square in 2026, while Ursuţa’s slime-green shroud sculpture will appear in 2028.

‘The sculpture prize has entertained and brought out the art critic in everybody for 25 years, and I have no doubt these two very different pieces will continue that fine tradition,’ said Justine Simons, Deputy Mayor for Culture and Creative Industries. —[O]

Main image: Teresa Margolles, Mil Veces un Instante (A Thousand Times in an Instant) (2024) at Trafalgar Square, London. Photo: © James O Jenkins.