The Center for Southern Craft and Design presents the multi-media sculptural work of Margarita Cabrera who lives and works in El Paso, Texas. Focusing on social-political community issues including cultural identity, migration, violence, inclusivity, labor and empowerment, Cabrera creates sculptures made out of mediums ranging from steel, copper, wood, ceramics and fabric. Combining contemporary art practices, indigenous Mexican folk art and craft traditions, Cabrera places emphasis on creating social consciousness through her work and generating solutions to the creation of just working conditions and the protection of immigrant rights.

In recent years, Cabrera’s work has focused on community art collaborations, producing work that has engaged international and local communities in transformative practices. These works 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.

Cabrera received an M.F.A from Hunter College in New York, NY. Her work has been included in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Smithsonian Museum of American Art, the Museum of Fine Arts Houston, the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, the McNay Museum San Antonio, the Sweeney Art Center for Contemporary Art at the University of California in Riverside, the Sun Valley Center for the Arts, El Museo del Barrio in NYC and the LA County Museum of Art in Los Angeles. In 2012, she was a recipient of the 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.