UPLIFT, a public art project
Artist Margarita Cabrera was selected by the City of El Paso to create a public art sculpture for the El Paso Country Club Roundabout. The sculpture design for the Country Club Roundabout is titled UPLIFT.
The theme of the work revolves around the violent realities existing along the US/Mexico border and focuses on a metaphor symbolizing a transformational change towards a stronger, more unified, community spirit. The artwork will be a representation of 600 hundred birds in the powerful moment when birds try to achieve flight and therefore freedom. This action is symbolic of the changing and diminishing violence facing our binational region. The community in Ciudad Juarez is transforming slowly as the community is seeing more and more traces of peace.
Location
The Public Art Sculpture will be located at center of the roundabout constructed for the interserction of Country Club Road and Memeory Lane. Installation is schedule to begin by the end of October.
Material
One of the materials for this sculpture is recycled confiscated guns, a material that allows us to creatively transform violence into something hope- ful, while also creating a positive visual experience for the people in this community and our neighbors in Juarez.
Gun material donated by government agencies Sheriff Wiles, El Paso County
Papel Picado
Papel picado ("perforated paper") is a Mexican decorative craft made out of paper cut into elaborate designs. Aztecs used mulberry and fig tree barks to make a rough paper called "Amatl” to make these crafts. When tissue paper became available, artisans usually layer 40 to 50 sheets of tissue and punch designs into them using "fierritos," a type of chisel. As a way of preserving culture and traditions, we made use of this process, with the community, in the wing design for UPLIFT. In this respect, as we build a sculpture signifying our present and future energies, we will also celebrate a renewal of our cultural heritage.
