Margarita Cabrera

Margarita Cabrera’s practice renders contentious topics into a compelling exploration of identity, migration, and societal critique. Often through playful representations—such as landscapes of embroidered cacti or exchanges with mimicking parrots—her work combines traditional craftsmanship with cultural commentary. She utilizes materials that carry considerable significance, such as border patrol uniforms and cochineal dye, transforming them into powerful vehicles for discourse. Cabrera approaches her work collaboratively, incorporating narratives from Indigenous and immigrant communities, weaving their stories into the fabric of her soft sculptures. Through this multi-layered process, her practice reflects the complex global identities of border regions and reclaims them as potent symbols of resilience. 

Margarita Cabrera (b. 1973, Monterrey, Mexico) received an MFA from Hunter College in 2007. She is an assistant professor at the School of Art at Arizona State University. Recent solo exhibitions include the Longmont Museum of Art, CO; McNay Art Museum, San Antonio, TX; Dallas Contemporary, TX; and the Wellin Museum of Art, Clinton, NY. Her work has also been shown at the Barbican Centre, London, UK; Denver Museum of Art, CO; Phoenix Art Museum, AZ; Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, PA; LACMA, CA; the Smithsonian Museum of American Art, Washington, DC; the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX; the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, TX; the Ford Foundation, New York, NY; Seattle Art Museum, WA; El Museo del Barrio, New York, NY; and El Museo Rufino Tamayo, Mexico City, MX. Cabrera was a Knight Artist in Residence at the McColl Center for Visual Art in Charlotte, NC. She was a recipient of the Joan Mitchell Foundation Grant, presenting a community public art sculpture, Puentes Culturales, commissioned by Lego at Discovery Green in Houston, TX. In 2019, Cabrera unveiled the public sculpture Árbol de la Vida: Memorias y Voces de la Tierra in San Antonio, TX, and was named Texas Artist of the Year. Cabrera was awarded a 2023 Latinx Artist Fellowship.

In 2012 she was a Knight Artist in Residence at the McColl Center for Visual Art in Charlotte, NC. Cabrera was also a recipient of the Joan Mitchell Foundation Grant, presenting a community public art sculpture commissioned by Lego at Discovery Green in Houston, Puentes Culturales. In May 2019, Cabrera unveiled her monumental, participatory public sculpture Árbol de la Vida: Memorias y Voces de la Tierra in San Antonio, Texas, and was named Texas Artist of the Year. Cabrera has also been selected as a recipient of the 2023-24 Latinx Artist Fellowship.