Past Exhibition: April 3, 2020 — April 25, 2020
MFA THESIS EXHIBITION
Gabi Magaly: Yo No Nací Para Aguantar A Nadie
Gabi Magaly’s Master of Fine Arts Degree Candidate solo thesis exhibition Yo No Nací Para Aguantar A Nadie marks the culmination of Magaly’s studies and training at the University of Texas at San Antonio.
Gabi Magaly (b. 1993) was raised in a Mexican-American household, saturated with stereotypical machismo and marianismo behaviors. Hypermasculinity oozed brutality, male dominance, and bad cologne. Placated and tongue-biting women who don’t speak up, act up, and always have rice and tortillas on the table at precisely six o’clock. Daughters reared to submit to males are taught to fetishize purity and holiness and expected to feed stomachs, ego, and taste for violence. Magaly draws from personal experiences within this toxic culture, and her work is a call to action to empower women’s voices and soften those of men with a little too much to say. Her imagery references everyday household items traditionally associated with my Mexican-American households: Fiesta spices, Fideo, prayer cards, candles, blankets, and tortillas.
I want these items to be culturally recognizable and physically accessible to the viewer. A visual language usually reserved for Abuela’s kitchen and living room is transformed into defiance, empowerment, and hopefully change. As we look towards the future, my work encourages women and girls in my culture to find the strength to forget about the old traditions and bring up their daughters to be independent.
Gabi Magaly is a multidisciplinary artist born in Bryan, TX, and based out of San Antonio. She works predominantly in photography but also works in video, printmaking, sculptural installation, and intervention. Magaly received her BFA at Sam Houston State University in 2015 and is currently working toward her MFA in Visual Arts at the University of Texas at San Antonio. Magaly has exhibited in solo shows at Satellite Gallery in Huntsville, TX and The Brick in San Antonio, TX. Her numerous group exhibitions include “New Media from San Antonio, Texas” at Luis Leu Gallery, Karlsruhe, Germany, “Galeria Guadalupe Photoplay” at The Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center, San Antonio, TX and winning Best in Show at “56th Annual Juried Competition Exhibition” in Masur Museum in Monroe, Louisiana.
Learn more about Gabi at www.gabimagaly.com