September 7 - November 2, 2019
“The 2019 Texas Artist of the Year exhibition, What Art Can Do: Margarita Cabrera – The Collaborative Act of Making, featuring artwork by El Paso Artist Margarita Cabrera. A catalog focusing on Cabrera’s community based art projects is being published in conjunction with this exhibition, including an essay by Rocío Aranda-Alvarado, Program Officer, Creativity and Free Expression, with the Ford Foundation, New York, NY. Founded in 1983, ALH established the Texas Artist of the Year award as a dynamic project documenting contemporary Texas art history. The award recognizes artists who have demonstrated exceptional creativity and outstanding achievement, and whose work has had a significant and positive impact on contemporary visual art in Texas. Those who have been recognized have already produced a significant body of work and stand apart as leading figures and visionary talents within the field of contemporary art in Texas.”
Cabrera states, “My work centers on social-political community issues including cultural identity, migration, violence, inclusivity, labor, and empowerment. I create sculptures made out of media ranging from steel, copper, wood, ceramics, and fabric. I have worked on a number of collaborative projects at the intersection of contemporary art practices, indigenous Mexican folk art and craft traditions, and US-Mexico relations. In addition to studying and preserving endangered cultural and craft traditions, these projects have served as active investigations into the creation of just working conditions and the protection of immigrant rights. My emphasis is on creating a social consciousness through my work, generating solutions to these problems through my art and empowering all members of highly diverse communities.
In recent years, I have especially focused on community art collaborations, producing work that has engaged international and local communities in transformative practices. With these works, we have created art pieces that serve as cultural and historical artifacts that value and document the experiences, struggles, and achievements of those who have found their way, often through migration and exceptional sacrifice, to new places where they now work to contribute meaningfully within their communities. This work is both individually and collectively inspiring to all participants and local populations.”
Special event: November 1, 2019 | 6–7:30 pm
Catalog Signing
1953 Montrose Boulevard
Houston, 77006 TX
(713) 523-9530
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