El poder, el mal y la muerte /Power, evil and death, 2021
5 painted ceramic pots made from clay collected from the Sierra Madre Occidental mountain range in Northern Mexico and painted with locally-sourced mineral pigments.
Smallest: 18 x 16 x 16 in.; Largest 21 x 18 x 18 in.
El poder, el mal y la muerte/Power, evil and death (2021) is a series of five painted ceramic vessels from Teresa Margolles's continued collaboration with artisans in the Northern Mexican...
El poder, el mal y la muerte/Power, evil and death (2021) is a series of five painted ceramic vessels from Teresa Margolles's continued collaboration with artisans in the Northern Mexican state of Chihuahua, near the U.S./Mexico border. Located in the region near the prehistoric Paquime archaeological zone or Casas Grandes (the place of the big houses) the ceramicists have suffered greatly from the escalating violence in the area. This collaboration has resulted in a three-dimensional crónica (chronicle) that visually recounts events affecting the population. These vignettes depict contemporary cars and houses amid the geometric fretwork traditionally used in pre-Columbian Paquime pottery. Upon looking closely, the quotidian is violently disrupted by illustrations of car crashes, explosions, and machetes—brutal scenes from a persistent conflict. There is a gun depicted on almost every pot. Power, evil, and death are, according to the artist, the three elements that appear on pot 1, symbolized by the bull, the snake, and skull and crossbones.