Week 4: Margarita Cabrera

During last week's presentations, one artist discussed was particularly interesting to me, Margarita Cabrera. Her print, Iron Will, was my favorite work shown. I found the use of multimedia really interesting as well in the choice of vinyl to create the iron image. The work interests me most, in the use of the icon of the Virgin of Guadalupe and the use of the iron. The Virgin image brings up the history of Chicana artists with this icon, like Yolanda Lopez and Ester Hernandez' previous renditions. The work is especially reminiscent of Yolanda Lopez' work of her grandmother, sewing. For me, the image evoked the female labor of Latina women along the border in the production of clothing and other clothwork. The title, Iron Will, seemed to relate to the strength of these women as they work to send money back to their families in other locations.
Upon reading the description on Margarita Cabrera's website, I found that the image does connect to the strength of Latino communities through unjust working conditions and the violence of life along the border region. However, I thought it was interesting that the work doesn't relate more to Latinas, as much as the whole community. From studying the Virgin icon in past artworks, it evokes a narrative and tradition of female power that one would think Cabrera would continue. Also in relation to the birds coming out of the iron, one could read the multitude of disappearing birds as a reference to the disappearing women in Juarez, a city close to Texas where Cabrera works. However, reading other blog posts, it is interesting to see how others read the work as well, and how readings differ across different experiences of my classmates. I enjoyed learning about this artist in class, and having the chance to learn more later on.