Empathetic work by a leading Mexican artist bears witness to senseless violence “The textile is a microphone.”
On her visit to New York City last winter, artist Teresa Margolles, Neuberger curator Patrice Giasson, and several others headed to Staten Island to the street where Eric Garner died as he was being placed under arrest, victim of a NYPD chokehold. In preparing for her new work, Margolles dragged a large cloth over the sidewalk where the violence occurred, staining it using a technique she developed to absorb micro-substances. This cloth became the canvas on which artist-embroiderers from Harlem Needle Arts, with input from Margolles, created a work that commented on the tragedy and voiced the artists’ concerns about violence faced daily by the African-American community. “The textile is a microphone,” Margolles said, explaining her general approach. “It triggers conversation because of its power of having been in contact with the dead body.” In the case of Garner, she said: “It shows the violence against black men. That’s what we want to talk about…Injustice.”
Created with the support of the Neuberger Museum of Art, american Juju for the Tapestry of Truth, 2015 and five other powerful works will be on view July 12–October 11, 2015 at the Neuberger Museum of Art in Teresa Margolles: We Have a Common Thread, an exhibition of the artist’s new multi-media work, involving the participation of local artist-embroiderers who worked freely on the pieces.
This exhibition continues Margolles’ long exploration of violence. A multimedia artist working in photography, video, sculpture and performance, Margolles has spent the last two decades exploring the socio-political issues related to violent death in Mexico and its impact on the victims’ family, friends, and communities. She’s addressed the anonymity surrounding hundreds of unidentified bodies in Mexico’s central morgue, the unprecedented violent nature of crimes resulting from that country’s drug war, the massive disappearance of women in Ciudad Juarez, and even messages left behind by those who committed suicide.
“Margolles provides focus and brings viewers in close proximity to death to broaden their understanding and stimulate their thinking,” Giasson explained.
In Teresa Margolles: We Have a Common Thread, all of the works are the result of the artist’s collaboration with native embroiderers from Panamá, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Brazil, Mexico and the United States, all of whom share her concerns about violence, particularly against women. After explaining her vision for the project, Margolles provided each group with a fabric that had been marked through contact with the bodies of those who had suffered a violent death. She urged the embroiderers to create patterns on the discolored textile as a way of triggering conversation about the violence and social problems plaguing their respective communities. These conversations are video-recorded and included in the exhibition.
Born in Culiacán, Mexico in 1963, Teresa Margolles is one of Mexico’s leading artists. She was a founder of SEMEFO, the acronym for Servicio Médico Forense (Forensic Medical Service), which commented on social violence through provocative art performances from 1990 to 1999. Margolles holds a degree in forensic medicine. Throughout the 1990s, she worked in a morgue, where ideas that expressed her views about violence, death, and social unrest took shape. Many of the corpses were victims of drug abuse or violence, and many were unclaimed.
“The idea was to bear witness and trigger the imagination to help tell the stories that accompanied the works she created,” says Giasson.
Teresa Margolles: We Have a Common Thread is organized by the Neuberger Museum of Art, Purchase College, SUNY, and curated by Patrice Giasson, Alex Gordon Associate Curator of the Art of the Americas. Generous support for the exhibition has been provided by the Alex Gordon Estate. Additional support comes from the Friends of the Neuberger Museum of Art and by the Purchase College Foundation.
The following programs are planned in conjunction with Teresa Margolles, and take place at the Neuberger Museum of Art:
Wednesday, September 2, 12:30 pm How Artists Respond to Trauma and Urban Violence Tickets: General admission: $10. Complimentary to Purchase College students, staff, and faculty, as well as Neuberger Museum of Art Circle Level Members
Join the conversation about how creative expression can provide an outlet to communicate ideas, make observations, forge connections and send powerful messages about violence and injustice. Panelists include Michelle Bishop, founder and president of Harlem Needle Arts Association, which promotes fiber and needle arts in the African Diaspora; Nathan Connolly, assistant professor of history at John’s Hopkins University, whose scholarship focuses on the politics of race, capital and property; Warren Lehrer, Purchase College Art+Design professor and co-founder of the non-profit community organization EarSay, Inc.; and Lachell Workman, an artist whose work investigates race, identity, society, memory, and trauma. Wednesday, September 16, 12:30 pm Crossing the Bridge: Art as a Vehicle for Social Justice Tickets: General admission: $10. Complimentary to Purchase College students, staff, and faculty, as well as Neuberger Museum of Art Circle Level Members
The Ghana ThinkTank collective (Christopher Robbins and Maria del Carmen Montoya) will discuss ways in which art can function as a vehicle for social justice. Their own practice calls attention and seeks resolution to issues of troubling cross-cultural power dynamics. Citing examples from their own explorations, particularly between immigrants and anti-immigrant factions on the US/Mexico border, Robbins and Montoya also will make connections to the work of Mexican artist Teresa Margolles.
Wednesday, September 23, 4:30 pm After Death the Tongue Keeps Talking: Crime and Culture in Mexico Tickets: General admission: $10. Complimentary to Purchase College students, staff, and faculty, as well as Neuberger Museum of Art Circle Level Members
This panel provides multiple perspectives to contextualize Teresa Margolles’ work within a larger socio-political framework. Experts in a variety of fields will explore how Margolles’ practice responds to societal structures, political practices, cultural mores, gender relations, and criminal activity prevalent in Mexico. Speakers include: Alberto Medina, associate professor in the Department of Latin American & Iberian Cultures at Columbia University, who specializes in Latin American cultural studies; Pablo Piccato, professor of history at Columbia University, whose scholarship centers on the political and cultural history of Mexico, and the history of crime; Roberta Villalón, associate professor of sociology and anthropology at St. John’s University, author of books on violence against Latina immigrants, collective memory, and justice motivations in Latin America.
Wednesday, September 30, 12:30 pm Artista Latina: Teresa Margolles in the Landscape of Latin American Art Tickets: General admission: $10. Complimentary to Purchase College students, staff, and faculty, as well as Neuberger Museum of Art Circle Level Members
Scholar Marianelly Neumann shares her insight into how Teresa Margolles’ work relates to traditions and themes found in the broader context of Latin American art. Neumann is a graduate of Purchase College and has served on the Acquisitions Committee of the Museum of Art in her native Lima, Peru.
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The Neuberger Museum of Art, Purchase College, State University of New York is the premier museum of modern, African, and contemporary art in the Westchester/Fairfield County area. An outstanding arts and education institution, the Museum was conceived with the dual purpose of serving both as an important cultural resource to its regional, national, and international audiences, and as an integral part of Purchase College. Support for the Museum’s collection, exhibitions, publications, and education programs is provided by grants from public and private agencies, individual contributions, the Friends of the Neuberger Museum of Art and its Board of Directors, the Purchase College Foundation, and the State University of New York.
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