Gabi Magaly

Teaching Artist/Instructor ; Visual Arts : Photographer , Textiles

Abuelita touching Gabi\\\'s arm

Gabi Magaly is an emerging artist born in Bryan, Texas. Magaly received her MFA in Visual Arts at the University of Texas at San Antonio in 2020. Magaly has exhibited in solo shows at Satellite Gallery, Huntsville, TX; The Brick, San Antonio, TX; Presa House Gallery, San Antonio, TX; Casa Lu, Mexico City. Her numerous group exhibitions include Luis Leu Gallery, Karlsruhe, Germany; The Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center, San Antonio, TX; Masur Museum in Monroe, Louisiana; Museo De Las Américas in Denver, CO; New Texas Talent XXVII in Dallas, TX; Mexic-Arte Museum in Austin, TX. She’s been awarded two CAMMIE awards from Blue Star Contemporary and Luminaria Contemporary Cultural Center during Contemporary Art Month 2020. She is also serving a term on the SPE Board of Directors from 2020 to 2024. She works predominantly in the medium of photography but also employs other mediums like sculptural installation and embroidery. Magaly currently lives in San Antonio, Texas, and works remotely at Diné College in Tsaile, Arizona.

Artist Statement of Work

Tell us about your work (style, approach, philosophy, subject and/or theme):

Growing up in a Mexican-American household, my childhood was saturated with the machismo and marianismo culture. Hypermasculinity oozes brutality, control, and bad cologne. Placated and tongue-biting women don’t speak up, act up, and always have rice and tortillas on the table at precisely six o’clock. Daughters are raised to submit to men, and are being taught to fetishize purity and holiness. We are expected to feed stomachs, ego, and a taste for violence. With my work, I draw from my experience within this toxic culture and provide a call to action for the women who don’t have a voice to feel empowered and for the men with a little too much to say to be softened. The imagery I use within my work is: Fiesta spices, Fideo, prayer cards, candles, blankets, and tortillas. I want these items to be culturally and physically accessible. A visual language usually reserved for Abuela’s kitchen and living room is transformed into defiance, empowerment, and hopefully change.