This October, Ruby City turns one year old and will celebrate with two new installations from its permanent collection and accompanying community programs. The new exhibitions are available for the public to view online through Ruby City’s website, Isaac Julien: Western Union: Small Boats and Margarita Cabrera: The Craft of Resistance. The exhibitions will be on view through spring 2022 allowing visitors to experience the work first-hand upon Ruby City’s reopening at a later date. Featuring works in diverse media, both exhibitions delve into ideas of migration and geographic movement. In the multi-screen installation, Western Union: Small Boats (2007), British multimedia artist Julien chronicles the global history of African migration and diaspora, examining both the geopolitical debate around immigration and its unique impact on the individual. His work is paired with Cabrera’s installation The Craft of Resistance (2008). Comprised of 1,500 copper monarch butterflies, this site-specific piece uses the butterfly as a motif to represent perseverance and the persistence of immigrant communities. Together, the exhibitions aim to spark a dialogue around the global immigration climate.

Isaac Julien Western Union Series No. 4 (Flight Towards Other Destinies 3), 2007. Photo courtesy of Isaac Julien Studio.

Margarita Cabrera, Craft of Resistance, 2008© Margarita Cabrera, courtesy Ruiz-Healy Art, San Antonio, Texas

Accompanying the installations,  Ruby City and The Carver Community Cultural Center will co-host their ongoing virtual studio visit program, Taller Talks with both Isaac Julien and Margarita Cabrera.  These virtual studio visits will provide an opportunity for the public to learn more about the artists’s practices, even giving them the chance to ask their own questions of these internationally renowned artists.

Waking Dream Online

Tutorials

Anjali Gupta on Chuck Ramirez