Teresa Margolles is standing in a warehouse on the Thames estuary, surrounded by large boxes marked “Frágil”. They have come from Mexico, holding the face masks of 363 transgender, non-binary and gender nonconforming people. Cast in white plaster, each bears traces of the person on whom it was moulded: a bright smear of lipstick here, a false eyelash there; even, in one case, half an eyebrow. Each has a number and a name – Leila, Milla, Maga, Bruno.
One by one, the casts are released from their packing and gently placed on a podium, concave side up, for Margolles to photograph. Dressed head to toe in her trademark black, she works with the respectful precision of the forensic pathologist she once was, beckoning me over to inspect the latest image on her camera. It shows the concave mask plumped back into the face of participant number 144, whose name is Paulina. “Every face has a story attached,” says the 61-year-old Mexican artist.
