An unexpected eulogy in papier-mâché
Chaires visited Philadelphia for two weeks in 2024 as part of the Julia Zagar Residency for Women Artists, founded by Zagar’s wife, Julia, in 2016 and run by the Magic Gardens. Chaires was the first artist to participate after the program was paused during the COVID-19 pandemic.
She returned to her studio in Puebla and spent most of 2025 making cartonería portraits of Isaiah, Julia and the people around them.
Chaires could not have known that six months before “Viviendo a través de la Muerte” would open — her first solo exhibition anywhere — her Dia de los Muertos portraits of Zagar as a comically dead figure would be posthumous. Zagar died in February at the age of 86.
“When we walked into her studio to pick up the work, we had no idea that this was the body of work that had been created. We were all just sobbing,” Smith said. “It was in the springtime, and we were still really going through it.”
Some of the figures show Zagar paired with his students and collaborators, based on photos. Another shows Zagar as he often portrayed himself in doodles as a manic figure with multiple arms, accompanied by the phrase “Art is the center of the real world.” Another is a seated portrait of a young Isaiah and Julia.