Canon of Witnesses: Teresa Margolles The Ethics of Residue

Key Points

• Margolles’ work emphasizes bodily residue, preserving the aftermath rather than aestheticizing death.
• The essay asserts that her installations teach critics to witness rather than interpret, creating moral proximity.
• It integrates post-interpretive criticism to argue that Margolles offers a unique ethical framework in contemporary art.
• Her approach highlights the ethics of witnessing, allowing materials of death to remain unaltered and unresolvable.