Teresa Margolles, a Mexican artist, was flanked by members of her country's trans community as Mil Veces un Instante (A Thousand Times in an Instant) was unwrapped in Trafalgar Square in London yesterday. Margolles said the work, which is the 15th to stand on the plinth and features "life masks" of 726 people (363 each from Mexico and the UK), was a tribute to Karla La Borrada, a 67-year-old trans singer murdered in the Mexican city of Ciudad Juárez nine years ago.
Margolles said: "We pay this tribute to her and all the other people killed for reasons of hate. But, above all, to those who live on, to the new generations who will defend the power to freely choose to live with dignity." Ekow Eshun, the chair of the fourth plinth commissioning group, said the piece could help "unite the trans community around the world" and that it was one of the most nuanced and timely artworks since the project started in 1999.
This story is from the September 19, 2024 edition of The Guardian.
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This story is from the September 19, 2024 edition of The Guardian.
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