MacArthur 'genius' makes magical art that conjures up her Afro-Cuban roots
One of this year's MacArthur fellows — the so-called 'genius grant' — the artist Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons is inspired by her family's African roots, her Cuban childhood and modern American life.
"When I left the town of La Vega to go to art school [as a young girl], I was wearing pants and a top that my mother made me using the fabric from a used mattress cover. All I had was my luggage and a little piece of brown paper that had the address of where I was going. And I knew that I never was going to return to the town until I had a lot of good news to share. So now I am going back to La Vega — as a MacArthur Genius."
That's how María Magdalena Campos-Pons, who grew up on a sugar plantation in Cuba, reacted to the news that she whose sculptures, paintings, installations, photography and more are displayed in over 30 museums around the globe.
