The latest work to be unveiled on the Fourth Plinth in London’s Trafalgar Square—one of the UK’s most important platforms for contemporary art—pays tribute to transgender, non-binary, and gender non-conforming communities in Mexico and the United Kingdom.
Mil Veces un Instante (A Thousand Times in an Instant) by the Mexican artist Teresa Margolles comprises the faces of 726 people—363 from Mexico and 363 from London.
“This collective sculpture… stands not only as a display of resilience and humanity from the trans plus/non-binary community but also as a reminder of the murders and disappearances that still occur in Latin America,” Margolles says in a statement. She adds that the piece is dedicated to a transgender woman named Karla who was murdered in Juárez, Mexico, in 2015.
The sculpture’s form is inspired by a Tzompantli, a skull rack used by ancient Mesoamerican civilisations to display sacrifice victims. The casts, exposed to the weather, will slowly fade over time.
In his address at the unveiling, Ekow Eshun, the Fourth Plinth Commissioning Group chair, said that the work reflects “the world we want to live in… it is fitting that we have contemporary art that speaks to our times”. Asked to elaborate, he told The Art Newspaper that Margolles’ piece is about “connection and humans”.
Justine Simons, London’s deputy mayor for culture and the creative industries, said that historic monuments today do not represent our experiences. “We are changing that story,” she told the assembled crowd.
Tabby Lamb, a UK-based participant Margolles’s work, says in a statement: “At a time when the trans community is more under attack than ever, it feels radical to be part of a sculpture celebrating not only our existence but also our vast diversity.” In relation to these anxieties surrounding the treatment of trans people, some onlookers raised concerns about security around the sculpture.
The Fourth Plinth programme was launched in 1998 by the Royal Society for arts, manufactures and commerce (RSA) with the support of the Cass Sculpture Foundation. Fourteen artists, including Yinka Shonibare, Rachel Whiteread and Mark Wallinger have shown works on the plinth since the contemporary art initiative was launched in 1999. The artists Tschabalala Self and Andra Ursuța have won the next commissions for the Fourth Plinth.
The Fourth Plinth is funded by the Mayor of London with support from Arts Council England and Bloomberg Philanthropies. The Telegraph reports that Fourth Plinth artists receive a £30,000 fee and a further £140,000 to cover production costs for their installations, according to Mayor’s office documents.
In 2016, Margolles unveiled a monument to 100 people who died on the streets of Los Angeles. She was selected as the Mexican representative at the 2009 Venice Biennale and is represented by James Cohan, New York; Galerie Peter Kilchmann, Zurich and mor charpentier, Paris.
