Ancestry and Art: Leigh Garcia’s MFA Exhibition

Written by Gillian Quinn

Leigh Garcia, a third year graduate student in the art department at UW-Madison, was recently awarded a Tinker Nave Short-Term Field Research Grant through LACIS for her collaborative project with Maria Wood called Soñé Una Milpa.

Leigh is from Dallas, Texas, and received a BFA in printmaking from the University of North Texas in 2015. She is currently pursuing an MFA at UW-Madison.

The following excerpt about her art is taken from her website:

“As a biracial Latina, a seventh-generation Texan of European descent on my mom’s side and granddaughter of Mexican immigrants on my dad’s, I have followed the roots of my own ancestry to shape my artistic practice. […] Through printmaking, papermaking, and installation art, I encourage awareness of our current immigration and foreign affairs policies by confronting viewers with the gruesome reality that death occurs daily on the Mexico-U.S. border.”

Leigh’s Master of Fine Arts Thesis Exhibition “El Camino Doloroso,” which aims to connect major historical events in Latinx history to contemporary forced and unauthorized immigration through her own biracial Latina lens, will take place from March 10 to March 15. The reception will be on March 14 from 6:00-8:00 p.m. in room 7240 at the George L. Mosse Humanities Building at 455 N. Park Street in Madison.

You can take a peek at some of her impressive and profound work here.