No Lone Zone

This interesting exhibition in the Tate Modern's Level 2 Gallery features artists from Latin America. The gallery guide states that the title No Lone Zone is a military term for an area where no one should go into alone and is applied metaphorically to the places that these artists are depicting. One of the first things that struck me about this show was the contrast in my reactions to two of the artworks displayed. In Bandera ll (2009) (the middle flag below) by Teresa Margolles I initially noticed the colour and texture on the surface of the flag, but when I read that its covered in blood collected from execution sites in Mexico the artwork become quite macabre and gruesome however poignant the artists conveyed message may be. Whereas in David Zink Yi's Untitled (Architeuthis) (2010) (2nd and 3rd photos below) what appears to be a dead squid in a pool of its own 'blood' initially made me feel unsettled. Though it turns out to be an impressively realistic looking clay model in a pool of corn syrup, so its now more a feeling of acceptance and awe of the makers skill.

Bandera (Flag) ll (2009)

Teresa Margolles

(Fabric impregnated with blood collected from execution sites in Mexico).

(The middle flag above at the Exhibition view at the Mexican Pavilion, The Venice Biennale 2009).

Untitled (Architeuthis) (2010)

(Below, and Above with corn syrup as it is this exhibition)

David Zink Yi

(Burnted and glazed clay, corn syrup).

The video Leitmotiv (2011) (film stills below) sounds like soothing waves, but is actually a group of people (out of shot) keeping a pool of water swept with brooms in one spot. As the gallery guide states the artist Cinthia Marcelle wanted 'to prevent the tide from disappearing.'

Leitmotiv (2011)

Cinthia Marcelle

(stills from Video Projection)

The last room of the exhibition returns to work by Teresa Margolles. Ajuste de cuentas (2008) (larger picture below) is a small pile of shattered glass from shot car windscreens collected at the scene of revenge killings by drug dealers in the Sinaloa region of Mexico. Margolles then commissions for the gems in jewellery typically worn by the perpetrators to be replaced by fragments of this glass (bottom two pictures).

Ajuste de cuentas (Score Settling) (2008)

(10 carat gold including an inlay of pieces of broken glass)