When Laia Abril suggested some artists that she was inspired by and wanted to meet in her exhibition at Moderna Museet, the choice fell on Emily Jacir and Teresa Margolles. Two artists who, like Laia Abril herself, work research-based with archives, photography, film and interviews.
In the exhibition What Remains, the works of the three artists now meet in a dialogue where resistance to various forms of oppression, social engagement and storytelling are the underlying themes.
In her extensive project A History of Misogyny, Laia Abril explores the various beliefs, structures, and social systems that oppress women, focusing on topics such as abortion, mass hysteria, menstruation, and femicide. What Remains shows the second part of the project, On Rape (2022), where women’s testimonies of rape are reproduced through a series of conceptual photographs of clothing and objects connected to the abuse.
Emily Jacir’s film letter to a friend, Palestine from 2019 depicts the conflict between Palestine and Israel, a work that is still just as ferociously relevant today, six years after its creation. In the film, Emily Jacir tells in detail about her home in Bethlehem, Dar Jacir, and the street on which it is located. A place shaped by the constant threat of violence that both the city and its residents are forced to live with.
For the exhibition at Moderna Museet, Teresa Margolles has created a new version of the work Plancha, originally from 2010. In the work Plancha (Estocolmo)/Hotplate (Stockholm) (2010/2025), the violence in Mexico is linked to the increasing spiral of violence in Sweden and the Stockholm region in recent years. Material has been collected from various murder scenes around the city and been mixed with water. The water drips from the ceiling onto heated hotplates, where it evaporates and creates a kind of memorial to the lives that were lost.
