Trafalgar Square’s fourth plinth is a monument to Trans people

Trafalgar Square’s fourth plinth has a new artwork on it, which remembers one person who was killed for nothing more than being a bit different, but does so with over 700 faces of other equally different people.

Called Mil Veces un Instante (A Thousand Times in an Instant), the sculpture by Mexican artist Teresa Margolles represents the many trans and non-binary people who suffer persecution worldwide.

The casts were made in the UK and Mexico, and you might notice some appear stained — as they were taken directly from the participant’s faces, hair and makeup left intact. As a work of art, it’s made from the plaster casts of 726 trans and non-binary people and is designed to decay over time as the British weather takes its toll on the plaster faces.

The “life masks” have also been arranged around the plinth as a tzompantli, a skull rack from Mesoamerican civilisations.

The scultpure is also a monument to Karla, a friend of the artist who was murdered in 2015 and whose murder has never been solved.

The installation will be on the fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square until 2026 and is the 15th public art commission to be created for the fourth plinth since it started being used for art in 1999.

Previous Fourth Plinth commissions

• 1999: Ecce Homo by Mark Wallinger
• 2000: Regardless of History by Bill Woodrow
• 2001: Monument by Dame Rachel Whiteread
• 2005: Alison Lapper Pregnant by Marc Quinn
• 2007: Model for a Hotel by Thomas Schuette
• 2009: One & Other by Sir Antony Gormley OBE
• 2010: Nelson’s Ship in a Bottle by Yinka Shonibare CBE
• 2012: Powerless Structures, Fig 101 by Elmgreen & Dragset
• 2013: Hahn/Cock by Katharina Fritsch
• 2015: Gift Horse by Hans Haacke
• 2016: Really Good by David Shrigley OBE
• 2018: The Invisible Enemy Should Not Exist by Michael Rakowitz
• 2020: THE END by Heather Phillipson
• 2022: Antelope by Samson Kambalu