From 'art queen' to exile: Juárez muralist Mago Gándara seeks her 'revenge' in new show

NewsNM - Swickard: with the chaos in Mexico how much should we in New Mexico extend our hands of friendship? I welcome a great artist. From the El Paso Times.com - Margarita "Mago" Gándara fled Juárez with all the art pieces she could jam into a small trailer. "They threatened to kill me," she said. The well-known border muralist is still defiant, still outspoken. Her knees are too weak to climb scaffolds anymore, but the roaring laughter of a woman determined to reinvent herself still reverberates through her El Paso studio. At 82, Gándara refused to be a victim, refused to stick around when a sicario, a hired gunman, showed up six months ago and told her neighbors in Colonia Libertad that she would be killed if she did not pay her quota, or extortion money. "I got angry and left, simply did not go back. I'd be a perfect candidate to be sequestered," she said. "I survived. I'm making a new life here -- easier." As part of what she calls her "revenge," Gándara has been working on a series of paintings called "Immigrant Pilgrims" for a coming exhibition in the Union Gallery at the University of Texas at El Paso. She also plans to show some sculptures. "This is what I did to survive my emotions and to begin life all over," she said. Read more

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