Artist Teresa Margolles makes diamond from London riots dirt

WHEN Mexican artist Teresa Margolles arrived in the UK in 2011 she witnessed London erupting into aggression.

In the aftermath, she travelled through Croydon in South London to document the demolition and vandalism caused by the unrest.

She collected residues generated by the rioting including carbonized remains of cooked out buildings and objects that were products of vandalism.

In a bid to create art symbolizing the riots she separated pieces of wood and carbon from a burned building in London Road in Croydon and sent it to a English company which specializes in elaborating diamonds with the remains of ashes from incinerated bodies.

The result is this stunning three-quarter carat, 58 facet cut diamond stud.

Margolles, one of the foremost artists working in Mexico today, this week presented her new body of work for the 2012 Glasgow International celebration of Visual Art.

The artist has earned a reputation internationally telling stories relating to aggression, crime and death.

Some of her art work includes broken glass from Mexican street clashes and shootings which she gathers mutually and turns into the sort of flamboyant jeweler worn by drug dealers.

But her work has raised some eyebrows in the history.

A New Zealand museum had to cancel an exhibition by Margolles after concerns it would upset people.

The Lower Hutt's Dowse Art Museum had planned to display Margolles installation - an empty room filled with floating bubbles using water in the past used to clean corpses.