Take Margarette Dawit left South Africa at the age of 23, as part of the “lost generation” of young white South Africans who emigrated for political or economic reasons during the 1970s and 1980s.

After months of traveling through Africa, Turkey, and Europe, she arrived in New York City with 76 dollars in her pocket. After a long series of odd jobs, she was admitted to The School of the Art Institute of Chicago with a merit scholarship.

In her third year of studies, she was awarded a scholarship to document political graffiti in South Africa (documentation that, at that time, was illegal). Today she holds one of the finest accessible collections on the subject. (Graffiti during that era was at its peak of appreciation as a new artistic form).

At the end of her fourth year of studies(1988), she traveled to Mexico as part of the study abroad program, and she never returned to the United States.

Supporting herself first as a life drawing model for artists and later through her own artwork, Dawit eventually founded her own art school, which she directed for six years.

In August 2002, Margarette’s work was selected for the Rufino Tamayo Biennial, and in October of the same year she participated as an honored guest representing South Africa at the International Cervantino Festival.

Always working in large format, Dawit is proficient in all painting techniques (oil, acrylic, encaustic, printmaking), is a skilled draftsman, and has produced sculptural works, collages, installations, and even a digital piece.

Dawit has a son of Ethiopian descent and a daughter of Purépecha descent; both are now adults.