MARGARITA CABRERA: Hummers

Margarita Cabrera’s vibrantly-colored sport utility vehicles challenge viewers to engage in debates about Mexican immigration, border relations, and the politics of the American Dream. Made from pliable, vinyl fabric with visible, hand-stitched threads, Cabrera’s Hummers pay homage to the thousands of laborers working in multi-national assembly plants near the U.S.-Mexico border—where engine parts for Hummer vehicles are made. Cabrera re-envisions the Hummer as a flaccid, vulnerable object that implicitly questions the power, excess, and wealth that, to some, signifies the American Dream. Cabrera was born in Monterey, Mexico and lives and works in El Paso, Texas. This exhibition is presented as part of the NMA`s Art + Environment series, an initiative that brings community, artists, and scholars together to explore the interaction between people and their environments.