October 6, 2022 – February 5, 2023
at The McNay Art Museum – Solo exhibition – San Antonio, Texas
Margarita Cabrera: Blurring Borders presents a range of artwork, that focus on border relations and celebrate Mexican heritage. Cabrera’s art honors the experiences, struggles, and achievements of those who have found their way—often through migration and extraordinary sacrifice—to new communities.
Started in 2010, the artist’s Space in Between series features interpretations of indigenous Southwestern plants fabricated from discarded United States Border Patrol uniforms. The series involves collaboration with community members through workshops, in which individuals embroider images and text about their own stories of migration and sacrifice. Blurring Borders includes work from Cabrera’s series Pepita para el loro para que hable o calle, inspired by Mexican parrots at risk of extinction due to the pet trade. The series’ title is from a Mexican proverb and in English translates to: A nugget for the parrot so that it speaks or stays quiet. The exhibition debuts two new bodies of work—TEQUITL and Flujo de Extracción. TEQUITL documents on video community members as they share stories of personal sacrifice. Flujo de Extracción is an augmented reality experience depicting three-dimensional renderings of Cabrera’s cochineal gouache on paper works.
