Particularly prone to crude realism, her works bear witness to the complexities of contemporary society, weakened by an alarming violence that is tearing the world — and especially Mexico — into pieces. Winner of the 2012 Prince Claus Award, Teresa Margolles has represented Mexico at the 53rd Venice Biennale in 2009, and her works have been shown in several international museums, institutions and foundations. Margolles’ 14 installations on display at PAC feature a minimalistic, yet high-impact style, which is almost overbearing from a conceptual perspective. They explore thorny issues such as death, social injustice, gender hate, marginalisation and corruption, generating a constant tension between horror and beauty.

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Since belonging to the group SEMEFO, whose name is derived from the forensic medical service, the Mexican artist Teresa Margolles has chosen as her atelier, first the morgue and the dissecting room, and more recently, the violence-ridden streets of Mexico. These are places of death but also places which bear witness to social unrest in what may be the world’s biggest metropolis, Mexico City.

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Margolles works not so much directly with the remains of bodies but rather with the traces of life, with shrouds, burial and memory, and with the way a violent act shatters human networks and affects them in various levels. The nameless and anonymous victims draw attention to inhuman relationships in modern overcrowded societies.