Magda León is more than a multidisciplinary artist; she is an immigrant woman who uses art to explore her identity, her roots, and her connection to community. When I asked her how she describes herself, her answer was short: “I’m just an immigrant woman.” And she channels that into her work, whether through art installations, printmaking, or even her more recent projects involving performance art.
I first met Magda on May 17, 2025, at a giant-kite-making workshop organized by the Guatemalan Center of New England. It caught my attention because giant kites are part of Guatemalan culture, particularly the tradition of making and displaying them around the Day of the Saints and the Dead as a way of honoring and connecting with ancestors. It also happened to coincide with a visit from my dad from Guatemala. It was the perfect opportunity to share a community event with him, something I’ve come to discover is characteristic of Rhode Island: community.
It was through this event that I connected with the Guatemalan community in RI for the first time, after living here for a couple of years. And that is what Magda’s art is like: It is lived, felt, and experienced.
Since she was a child, Magda loved drawing and writing poetry. “I drew on everything, on paper, on bills, and even on passports,” she says, laughing as she remembers that story.
However, she decided to pursue a degree in Social Work at CCRI and graduated when she was 22. The artist inside her went to sleep until, at 39, she decided to pursue a BA in Printmaking and later an MFA at MassArt, at 46.
“It’s never too late,” Magda tells me as we talk about her journey. Over time, she understood that art was much more than drawing or painting. “I understood that art is a way to communicate, share, and be in community.”
Her artistic search is also connected to her roots. Her parents, originally from Zacapa, a warm, dry, mountainous region in eastern Guatemala, migrated to the United States in the late 1960s. During her mother’s pregnancy, her parents decided to return to Guatemala so that Magda would be born there and would also have Guatemalan nationality.
When I ask Magda about the source of her inspiration, she tells me that, for her, creating is a search for connection with her roots, a search for an ancestral connection.
“The desire to know about my culture, I do it to know who I am.”
Magda explains that connecting with the immigrant community in the United States feels different from connecting with Guatemalans who live in Guatemala. It is a consistent search for identity.
But her art is also about everyday things. “In our culture, we grow up believing that art is the Mona Lisa, and because of that, when we create art, we don’t feel seen. But we matter.” For Magda, art goes far beyond what we see in a gallery.
“My art is also for my people. Everything I do is to celebrate my community. I’m not looking for fame; I’m looking to be present in the intimacy of my community.”
That is precisely what I was able to see during the giant-kite-making workshops. In 2025, I attended several workshops held in different locations throughout RI and Massachusetts to document, through photography, the development of the kites and, above all, the community that formed around them.
This is precisely what I was able to see during the kite workshops. In 2025, I attended several workshops held in different locations throughout RI and Massachusetts to document, through photography, the development of the kites. In this series of gatherings, participants created individual pieces that were then assembled into a single large kite that was exhibited on November 1st during the Giant Kite Expo hosted by the Guatemalan Center in Providence.
This year, the giant kites will be exhibited at WaterFire Arts Center on November 1st as part of our Día de Todos Los Santos celebration and installation.
When I asked her what she had learned from the people who participated in these workshops, her answer was: “How much we all need community and to disconnect from the routine, the cellphone, the problems, and connect as human beings. To do something together. Not necessarily art, but to do something together, to create something.”
Above all, one story stayed with her: a couple who had already lost the Spanish language and felt disconnected from their culture but wanted to share it with their children born in the United States.
“This is deeper than what I thought it would be. It goes beyond the art-making. Getting together and fostering spaces where we feel safe and at ease to connect with our roots. That really stayed with me.”
What inspires her is her own experience of searching for identity and realizing that she is not alone in that search. For Magda, the art is in making the workshop. The kite is a consequence. The art is in the human connection, in the conversations, in the moment when we are creating together.
“To be able to open these spaces and make people feel happy, and for a moment make them forget about what is outside. That is what matters, and I feel very fortunate to be able to do this for the community.”
For Magda, creating these spaces also means opening a path for other people. She shares advice for those who have that same fire inside them: get yourself out of the way. Don’t let our insecurities limit us. We must find the courage.
“I want people to know that there is a place for them, and if they can’t find it, they must have the courage to create it and open the path for the people who come after them.”
Who is Magda León?
“An immigrant woman full of fire, mistakes, and good things. And what accompanies me are my children, my husband, my parents, and my community. I’m just a human being.”
Stay tuned to Magda’s social media for more upcoming events through 2027 like the exhibition at the New Bedford Whaling Museum “Remember: Volver a pasar por el corazón.”