Margarita Garcia

Re/flecting the Border

My work explores economic, social and migratory phenomenon, seeking to open dialogue through the methodologies of installation and performance. It is often unapologetically critical of inequality and incorporates sensory modalities usually disarticulated into components, such as sculpture, performance, food and music (which usually take place in separate spaces such as museums, theaters, restaurants and concert halls) bringing them together in the public sphere.

Often, this means – I feed the people. In an artistic way, naturally.

Food – an ephemeral material, can be used to feed more than hunger – and evoke meaning. The act of consumption in my performances is intended as both an action, a performing object and a metaphor, a small scale, digestible reminder of the excess of production and ingestion that fuels global exploitation and our own physical and environmental destruction. The performative act of serving and communal consumption, while preserving elements of a ‘Feast’ is not designed only for pleasure, but to provoke questions, or even engender disgust. The sculptural elements utilized as ‘serving’ elements often incorporate language, poetry and reflections, that when united in public space, serve to create a temporary dialectical heterotopia in which all are invited to participate as equals. Above all, I am interested in art that reflects the mechanics of society and its transformative property – by imaging alternate realities, to unite people beyond the artificial boundaries created by Borders, real, imagined or otherwise.

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