Uprooted Dreams (Alebrijes)

On permanent display in the Education Area upstairs at the ESB-MACC is Uprooted Dreams (2012), a site-specific sculptural installation that features over 19 individual, brightly colored woodcarvings, mounted in the public entrance of the Education Area. Artist Margarita Cabrera was selected to create an artwork which would engage the community in its production. "Uprooted Dreams is a work of art designed in the form of workshop production...nineteen members of Austin's immigrant community- guided by Master Artesanos, Ranulfo Sergio Ibañes and Lucia Luria Sosa, experts in the Mexican craft tradition of alebrije-created, carved and painted wooden sculptures. These pieces embodied artistic themes of uprootedness as they spoke to the transformation of people, land, and community. For the artist, artesanos, participants, and audience, the process and product of Uprooted Dreams provides an ongoing platform on which to build respect, equality, solidarity, and dignified ways of making art and creating community."   - Margarita Cabrera

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