{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O1781467"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1781467/"}},"images":null,"see_also":null},"record":{"systemNumber":"O1781467","accessionNumber":"PH.1018-2024","objectType":"Film","titles":[{"title":"Irrigation","type":"assigned by artist"}],"summaryDescription":"For over three decades, Teresa Margolles has been making art about the endemic violence in her native Mexico. Her artistic practice explores the borderland’s cartel wars, human trafficking and gender violence, and often incorporates material residue from murder sites. Irrigación is a video piece that shows the action of irrigating Highway 90, which runs through Presidio County, Texas, 250 miles from the Mexican border. The performed action responds to violence that occurred in first three months of 2010, when more than 500 men, women and children were murdered in Ciudad Juárez in cartel-related brutality. To enact the work, Margolles placed moistened cloths on sites of violence to absorb the physical remnants of these deeds. The cloths were then steeped in 5,000 gallons of water and used to perform the irrigation on the US side of the border – a reference to the fact that over 90% of guns used by Mexican cartels originate from the United States. The video is filmed in one continuous shot, observing the modesty of the action and absorbing the vast, desolateness of the landscape.","physicalDescription":"A colour film showing the action of irrigating Highway 90, which runs through Presidio County, Texas, 250 miles from the Mexican border. Coloured in pastel hues of yellow, grey and blue, it shows a truck driving slowly along the highway and is filmed in one continuous shot. ","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Margolles, Teresa","id":"AUTH404462"},"association":{"text":"artist","id":"AAT25103"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"film","id":"AAT127339"}],"techniques":[{"text":"","id":""}],"materialsAndTechniques":"","categories":[{"text":"Woman Artist","id":"THES387590"},{"text":"Woman photographer","id":"THES380381"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"DOP","id":"THES291628"},"images":[],"imageResolution":"","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"DAMS","id":"THES280561"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Video","id":"AAT54153"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Mexico","id":"x30050"},"association":{"text":"photographed","id":"x30151"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"2010","earliest":"2010-01-01","latest":"2010-12-31"},"association":{"text":"photographed","id":"x30151"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":" Purchase funded by the Photographs Acquisition Group","dimensions":[],"dimensionsNote":"35 minutes, 39 seconds ","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Film by Teresa Margolles, 'Irrigación [Irrigation]', 2010","bibliographicReferences":[],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[{"text":"<i>American Photographs</i> (V&A, June 2025 - May 2027)\n\nTeresa Margolles (born 1963)\r\n<i><b>Irrigación (Irrigation)</b></i>\r\n2010\r\n\nMargolles’s work addresses endemic violence in her native Mexico. She used cloths and water to transfer physical traces of cartel violence, including human remains, from Mexico to the US. Margolles then used the water to irrigate Highway 90 in Texas, 250 miles from the border. Documenting the action, this video underlines the cross-border flow of weapons from the US that fuels cartel violence.\r\n\nRunning time: about 35 minutes\r\n\nSingle-channel video\r\nMuseum no. PH.1018-2024\r\n\nPurchase funded by the V&amp;A Photographs Acquisition Group","date":{"text":"2025","earliest":"2025-01-01","latest":"2025-12-31"}}],"partNumbers":["PH.1018-2024"],"accessionNumberNum":"1018","accessionNumberPrefix":"PH","accessionYear":2024,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2026-04-13","recordCreationDate":"2024-06-11","availableToBook":false}}