Teresa margolles morgue

As an artist she researches the social causes and consequences of death. Margolles communicates observations from the morgue in her home city, Mexico City, and other morgues located in Latin America, as well as the extended emotional distress and social consequences that occur as product of death by murder. While working around the topic of the body, her work extends to the families of the victims, the remaining living bodies that witness the death of a loved one.

The main medium of her work comes from the morgues themselves, which she transforms into sensory experiences that provoke a feeling of memory to the audience. Margolles finds particularly remarkable how the activity inside the morgues reflects the truth from the outside. In the case of Mexico City, she observes that the majority of victims belong to the lower classes.

Margolles grew up in Sinaloa, where she was exposed to violence and death at a young age.

Teresa margolles tate modern

As a teenager, she joined her sister in moving to Mexico City for school. Although interested in photography, she decided to study political science. She then became interested in forensic science after beginning to hang out with trainee doctors studying at the medical school next door. Margolles was originally trained as a forensic pathologist , and holds academic degrees in science communication and forensic medicine from the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico , Mexico City.

For her the morgue reflects society, particularly Mexican urban experience, where drug-related crime, poverty, political upheaval, and military action have resulted in violence and death; [ 7 ].