Jacqueline Saragoza McGilvray is an artist and curator living in San Antonio, Texas who grew up in the Central Valley of California. McGilvray earned an MFA in Photography and Integrated Media from Ohio University and BFA from Texas State University in Photography. Since 2014 she has curated exhibitions and special projects for Contemporary at Blue Star in San Antonio, TX. Prior to working at the Contemporary, McGilvray did collections research and writing for the Linda Pace Foundation, taught photography courses for the Art Institute, San Antonio, and Ohio University, coordinated exhibitions, and worked in multiple art education programs.
McGilvray’s photographic practice is focused on exploring how identity develops and shifts through family, home, place, and culture. Her work is influenced by the history of photography and interests in the nuances of language, gesture, and the body. McGilvray’s work has been exhibited at various galleries including with Minneapolis Photo Center; Houston Center for Photography; Fotofest, Houston, TX; Clifton Cultural Arts Center, Cincinnati, OH; Co-Lab, Austin, TX; ROY G BIV, Columbus, OH; The McNay, San Antonio, TX; St. Edward’s University, Austin, TX and more. Her work has been reviewed or featured in publications including Glasstire, San Antonio Express News, Texas Monthly, and more.
McGilvray’s curatorial practice is centered on a collaborative, thoughtful, service-minded approach, committed to diversity in many forms and methods and centering artists’ visions. She is drawn to work exploring personal passions and histories that can offer shared truths, and artists who invest in their craft, demonstrating artistic excellence and material expertise in balance with conceptual rigor. McGilvray feels this is key to inspiring a range of viewers, from professional artist to students to everyday visitors. McGilvray works collaboratively with artists and her exhibitions team to minimize the impacts of producing exhibitions, as well seek to work with artists whose practices consider place, environmental impact, and preservation. McGilvray’s curatorial projects have been featured and reviewed widely including in Artforum, Hyperallergic, Juxtapoz, Scultpture Magazine, Glasstire, Sightlines, Texas Arts and Culture, Rivard Report, La Prensa, and more. Her curatorial perspective is informed by studies focused on methods of art history centered on linguistics with some of her specific fields of interest including the history of photography, contemporary art, archives and books as artwork, and various feminist movements and ideologies. Foundational to McGilvray’s curatorial approach was the mentorship of art historians Marion S. Lee, Jaleh Mansoor, and Erina Duganne, and artists Laura Larson, Ray Klimek, Jason Reed and Barry Stone.