“Since 1993, 14,525 murders have been
committed in Ciudad Juarez
bordering on the United States, of which
1,248 have victimized women. Most of
these crimes against men, women and
children remain unpunished.” Extract from Men and Women of Juarez, Julian Cardona, Mexico, 2012

Since 2009 Brian Maguire has travelled on a number of occasions to Ciudad Juárez in Mexico. Described as the most violent city on earth, this is a place where the most heinous of crimes are often met with impunity. On a journey to uncover and bring to international attention the endemic injustices and cyclical nature of the violence that occurs in this place, Maguire has involved and collaborated with a number of artists, journalists and human rights activists. This exhibition has brought together five artists, who through their practices challenge the absence of humanity that allows for these conditions to continue.

The Portraits by Brian Maguire are of young women who have been violently murdered. Painted from images given by each woman’s family, for each portrait that you see at VISUAL, a further portrait sits in the home of her family in Mexico. The title of each painting tells the story of each woman, and in some cases, child.
Mexican artist Teresa Margolles has installed two works. Sonidos De La Muerte (2012) translates to The Sound of Horror . The title of the work makes explicit the sense of horror that exists in the everyday. This sound piece captures the bustle of the cities where violence occurs and murders are committed. On the window of the Link Gallery she has installed a work entitled A Traves (2011). The glass panes have been coated in the sweat, grease and grime extracted from t-shirts worn over a period of time by 150 young Mexicans; mechanics, butchers and trades people. Combined on this wall of glass, these bodily and every day fluids and greases, represent what it is to be vital and human. Margolles is currently nominated for the international Artes Mundi prize. So it is a huge honor to have her work at VISUAL

Norwegian Artist Lise Bjørne Linnert presents Desconocida Unknown Ukjent, an international participatory art project which has involved the collaboration of thousands of individuals since 2006. The embroidered names that make up this delicate wall are of women who have been murdered or gone missing in Ciudad Juárez since 1993.

The Lobby Gallery holds a film piece by Mark McLoughlin entitled Disposable and documentary photographs of Ciudad Juárez by Lanka Haouche Perren. Both artists have travelled with Brian Maguire to Mexico documenting the city, the families, and the resulting work by Maguire.
An Oasis of Horror in a Desert of Boredom brings to Carlow an exhibition of work that calls for international attention to be drawn to the impunity that violent crime is being met with in Mexico’s border cities.

This exhibition is supported by a publication with texts by Julian Cardona, Christian Viveros Fauné, & a limited signed limited edition print by Brian Maguire.
For further information please contact Exhibitions Manager at VISUAL: Emma-Lucy O’ Brien
T: 0599172457 E: elobrien@visualcarlow.ie

Erika Perez Escobedo, Brian Maguire, 2012
Press Releases:

• /content/files/Press_release_An_Oasis_of_Horror.pdf

• /content/files/Un_oasis_de_horror_Press_Release_SPA.pdf

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