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Nkame Mafimba. Belkis Ayón Additional texts translated into German

Nkame Mafimba. Belkis Ayón Additional Texts Curriculum

Remembering Belkis Ayón, on the 10th anniversary of her physical disappearance Isbel Alba February 4, 2015 A Date that Cannot Be Forgotten September 11 has become a date of loss and pain in our collective imagination after the terrorist attacks against the twin towers, in New York, 2001. However, although we share the grief of thousands of people for whom this day represents a tragedy, a before and an after, we have another motive to write these words. Today, I am writing about another departure, perhaps more intimate because it is ours, perhaps more questionable because it was intentional, leaving behind a mystery and the terrible sensation that accompanies bitter, inexplicable gestures. I am speaking of the Cuban artist Belkis Ayón Manso (1967-1999), who one day, ten years ago, took her own life. Belkis Ayón was an exceptional woman, with unparalleled energy and talent. Together with artists Sandra Ramos and Abel Barroso she implemented La Huella Múltiple (1996) (The Multiple Print), a project that would change forever the appreciation of Cuban print-making, an art expression that after its splendor in the 19th century due to the booming commerce of sugar and tobacco, had practically fallen into oblivion in the Cuban artistic milieu after the rise of Modernism in Cuba. Regarding the work and legacy of Belkis Ayón In some previous lectures and writings in which I have introduced the work of Ayón, I have not doubted in classifying her prints as palimpsests[3]. Using the collographic technique the artist would superpose layers of various textures to create reliefs that represented a very personal iconography, inspired in the expressions of the intangible legacy of the Abakuá[4], the different parts of the initiation ritual of the said religion or the characters of their foundational myth. In my opinion, what she did was a remake of something that had already been assimilated through oral tradition thanks to the intellectual and historical-anthropological approach allowed by books such as El Monte and Abakuá Secret Society by Lydia Cabrera, “The Ñáñigos tragedy”, by Fernando Ortiz or Los ñáñigos, by Enrique Sosa. Interpreting these works that reproduce an oral tradition, Ayón created her own imaginary graphic work. A world elegantly portrayed in the images of her prints. Although representing the Afro-Cuban legacy in our painting is constant since colonial times, her work may be considered a rarity from multiple viewpoints, since Belkis Ayón rescued printmaking in the midst of the Special Period. Engraving allowed her, among other things, to produce more with less and to exhibit a chromatic minimalism bordering on exquisiteness. During the last stage of her life, Belkis Ayón combined her work as an artist with that of being a professor at the Higher Institute of Art (ISA) and with her position as a vice president of the Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba (UNEAC). Whenever she had the chance she disseminated the work of her students and colleagues. Thus, she became an active promoter of Cuban culture on a national and international scale. However, the factor that made her work deserve recognition, beyond the Cuban intellectual circles, is the Abakuá topic around which she articulated her poetic language and the refinement of her collographies and prints in general. According to Alex Rosenberg, a prestigious specialist of international graphic arts and renowned collector, the results achieved by this artist with the collographic technique had no match in the world of art up to date [5]. This gives her demise another dimension. Thus, we may affirm that Belkis Ayón had the merit of having taken the Abakuá culture to its highest form of recognition in the world of visual arts and of introducing it into the museum spaces. It is a paradox that thanks to a woman, this centuries-old, sectarian culture achieved universality in the most demanding circles of international art of the 20th century. At present, the works of Belkis Ayón are part of fourteen cultural centers and museum collections, among which are the National Museum of Fine Arts in Havana, the Van Reekum Museum, Apeldoorn, Holland, The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York, the Museum of Fort Lauderdale, USA, el Museum of Latin American Art of California, USA, Ludwig Forum Fur Internationale Kunst, Aachen, Germany, the State Russian Museum, Saint Petersburg, among others. Her works are also in numerous private collections in various countries. Nobody has been able to explain the reasons for such an abrupt death at a moment in which her career was in full growth and when she had the acceptance of critics and other art professionals. Her physical disappearance left a void in the Cuban artistic milieu. Many of her colleagues coincide in pointing out that seldom the human and artistic values have combined in such a special way in a single person. Perhaps such departure is the only reproach that can be pointed out. However, in her gesture, there is a certain coherence with the myth that fascinated her. This allows us to draw a parallel with the philosophy of the romantic poets or other artists who have committed suicide. The figure of Belkis Ayón, therefore, is fused with the myth of Sikán giving place to a circle of meanings with a certain aura of mystery, offering thus great research material for historians and anthropologists. The Belkis Ayón Estate After her death, her legacy became protected by the Belkis Ayón Estate, an institution directed by her sister, Dr. Katia Ayón, with the advice of prestigious specialists in Cuban art. This institution, in which the family legacy and the cultural legacy of the nation coexist, has a model of management that is not widely known in the current socioeconomic context of the island [6]. Thus, self-managed for ten years by Dr. Ayón it has been developing a superb job which includes the preservation of Belkis Ayón’s works and the dissemination of her legacy by organizing exhibitions, publications, and other cultural activities. According to an invitation that I received recently, the Belkis Ayón Estate has programmed Nkame, the first retrospective exhibition of the artist to commemorate the 10th anniversary of her demise. The show was officially opened last Friday, September 11, at 6 p.m., in the Convent of San Francisco de Asís, in the historical center of Old Havana. The exhibition includes some 83 works such as collographies, lithographs, and chalcographs made from 1984 to 1999. Likewise, other graphic documents of shows in which Belkis took part, as well as texts and photographs of the artist printed on large canvases are on display. Organized by Dr. Katia Ayón and with the curatorship of Cristina Vives, the Nkame exhibition shall remain open to the public up to November 28th. During those two months and as part of the cultural program accompanying the exhibition, the halls of the convent shall take in lectures on the work of Belkis Ayón, the launching of the magazine La Gaceta de Cuba, and the launching of the projects of six young printmakers, some of them former students of the artist. Nkame is a deserved homage to the work of Belkis Ayón, a great exponent of printmaking in the history of Cuban art. [1] This fish was the embodiment of Abasi, supreme deity of the Abakuá. See SOSA RODRIGUEZ, Enrique, Los ñáñigos, Casa de las Américas 1982 Award, Ediciones Casa de las Américas, Havana, 1982. [2] Sikan’s sacrifice, which will appear in her works as a leitmotif, will bring about the Abakuá tradition in the ancient ethnic groups of Nigeria (the Efik and Efor peoples). It is, doubtless, a foundational myth that afterward, as Ortiz pointed out, during slavery – through a transculturation process-, gave origin to the Abakuá fraternity in Cuba in the towns of Havana and Matanzas (1830). See : ORTIZ, Fernando, La “tragedia” de los ñáñigos, Poligraf, Havana, 1993. [3] ALBA DUARTE, Isbel (2009) The myth of Sikán in Cuban culture: tangible and intangible heritage in the work of Belkis Ayón. Reflections on the strategies for preservation and the methods for recovering her legacy. The lecture was given in the framework of the 28th International Congress of the Association of Latin American Studies, Río de Janeiro, Brazil, on June 13, 2009. [4] An example of the expressions of intangible heritage is the figures in the parades, such as the little devils or iremes as well as the signatures or anaforuanas covering the bodies of the practicing Abakuás, the animals that will be sacrificed, and the musical instruments that take part in the various sections of the initiation ritual of this brotherhood (Author’s note). [5] In ROSENBERG, Alex and Carol, Belkis Ayón in memoriam, 2005 BACK TO CRITIQUE next article

Belkis Ayón at th e 34th São Paulo Biennal Although is dark, I still sign Diseño para el catálogo de la 34 Bienal de São Paulo y algunas obras incluidas en la exposición principal July 5, 2021 Isachi Durruthy Peñalver © Belkis Ayón Estate The 34th edition of the Sao Paulo Biennial will feature the work of Belkis Ayón (Havana 1967-1999). The event, one of the most prestigious in the world and an indisputable reference for the art of our continent, will host 16 works by the renowned Cuban artist. In total 14 prints, one of them, large format, and two matrices, also large format, will be exhibited from September 4 to December 5, 2021, at the Ciccillo Matarazzo Pavilion, located in Ibirapuera Park in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Belkis Ayón traced a renovating path for Latin American printmaking. Her peculiar aesthetic discourse grounded in the traditions of the Abakuá culture, her outstanding mastery of the collography technique, and her prolific work as a pedagogue made her one of the most prominent figures of 20th-century Cuban art. This is the first time that her work has been invited to participate in this notorious event, conceived as a polyphony of voices and points of view on contemporary artistic production. The 34th Biennial entitled Faz escuro mas eu canto [Although it's dark, I still sing] affirms the right to complexity and opacity, in expressions of art and culture, as well as in the identities of individuals and social groups, with a representation of 91 artists from 39 countries. The curatorial team is form by of Jacopo Crivelli Visconti, Paulo Miyada, Carla Zaccagnini, Francesco Stocchi and Ruth Estévez. The Cicillio Matarazzo, former Palace of Industry, also known as the Biennial Pavilion, is part of the original Ibirapuera Park complex in Sao Paulo and was designed by the famous Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer. For more information on the 34th Sao Paulo Biennial visit HERE the official page NEXT NEWS

THE CALLALOO ART & CULTURE IN THE AFRICAN DIASPORA MAGAZINE, ILLUSTRATED ITS COVER WITH THE PIECE LA CENA, 1988 BY BELKIS AYÓN January 26, 2015 Yadira Leyva Ayón © Callaloo Art & Culture in the African Diaspora Magazine Issue 4 of the Callaloo Art & Culture in the African Diaspora Magazine illustrated its cover with the piece La Cena de 1988 by Belkis Ayón, of which we can find a dossier with more of her works and specific aspects of her artistic life. With interviews, historical articles, reviews, and dossiers of visual artists, the publication presents different aspects of the culture generated by the African diaspora in the American world. PREVIOUS NEWS NEXT NEWS

NKAME: A RETROSPECTIVE OF THE CUBAN PRINTMAKER BELKIS AYÓN SELECTED AMONG THE BEST OF THE ART OF 2017 WORLDWIDE BY ARTnews MAGAZINE Jan 4, 2018 Yadira Leyva Ayón © www.artnews.com On December 27, 2017, the article by Andrew Russeth, «2017: THE YEAR IN REVIEW, was published on the ARTnews website. The Year in, and Beyond, New York Galleries — Plus a Top 10 from Around the World. In the article, among other very important contemporary art exhibitions of the year, Nkame… was selected in the number 4 position among the best exhibitions in the world of the year 2017. Andrew Russeth refers: “Once you take a look at the large-scale pieces that Belkis Ayón made by assembling printed panels, you never forget. They are typically black, white, and every shade of gray (though she briefly and incredibly dipped into the color), and they feature, with supernaturally sinuous confident lines, figures with faces that only have piercing eyes, piercing eyes, performing non-ritualistic rituals. identifiable, hugging each other, and, yes, looking at us, inspired by the male and Afro-Cuban secret society known as Abakuá. The world lost the Cuban artist in 1999, at the age of 32, and this retrospective made it clear that if she were still alive, she would be one of the main figures operating today. " Nkame: A Retrospective of the Cuban Printmaker Belkis Ayón, previously exhibited at the Fowler Museum at UCLA, and then at the Museo del Barrio in New York, has been selected as the best of art for two years, as it was also chosen as the best of art in Los Angeles in 2016. Link to the article HERE PREVIOUS NEWS NEXT NEWS

I National Collography Contest Belkis Ayón ANNOUNCEMENT Basis All Cuban students and artists with engravings made in the collography technique, printed between 2011 and 2012, who have not participated in a previous exhibition, event, or contest, will be able to participate. Inscription The works must be sent unframed through certified mail or in person before March 10, 2013, to the headquarters of the Centro Provincial de Arte de Cienfuegos, at Ave 56, No. 2601, between 25 and 27, Cienfuegos, CP 55100, telephone: (043) 55 06 76. Each artist will have the right to present three works (independent or triptych) duly signed and numbered in pencil, which cannot exceed 60 x 80 cm. Workshop or artist tests are not accepted. The works submitted to the contest must be unpublished. Selection A jury will be appointed to select and award the works received. The selected and awarded works will be exhibited at the Cienfuegos Art Gallery, within the program of the 7th La Estampa Fair, an event that will be officially inaugurated on April 6, 2013, at 9 p.m., at which time the will make public the final decision of the jury. The exhibition will remain open to the public for 30 days. The exhibition will be presented in Havana during the next engraving meeting to be held in 2013. The selected artists will be given the Certificate of Participation once the exhibition is over, along with the return of their works within 45 days. The organizers of the contest are responsible for the care of the works sent, running with all the expenses generated by the return of the same to their authors. Prize A single and indivisible Grand Prize will be awarded consisting of 3,000 Cuban pesos (donation from the artists belonging to the workshop and to the Belkis Ayón Estate), a diploma, and a reproduction of a work by the artist to whom the contest is dedicated. The Jury will award mentions at its discretion without financial endowment. The winning works will become part of the Cabinet of La Estampa de Cienfuegos. The award-winning artist will be invited to perform a personal exhibition at the Cienfuegos Art Center next year. Participating in the Belkis Ayón National Coloring Contest implies acceptance of these Terms and Conditions. The Jury's decision will be final. More information Organizing Committee of the Belkis Ayón National Coloring Contest GRAPHIC SOCIETY OF CIENFUEGOS Sociedadgraficadecienfuegos@gmail.com plastica@azurina.cult.cu (043) 51 79 79 ESTATE OF BELKIS AYÓN, HAVANA belkat@cubarte.cult.cu (07) 642 30 83 www.ayonbelkis.cult.cu www.ayonbelkis.com JURY AWARDS Events and Exhibitions I N ational Collograpy Contest Belkis Ayon Cienfuegos, 2013 Selected works and Exhibition Muestra Concurso Exhibition Texturas Develadas Exhibition Nuevas Circusntancias

January 2, 2020 Yadira Leyva Ayón © Belkis Ayón Estate Announcement for the IV Collography Contest Belkis Ayón. April 9-12, 2020. Cienfuegos ANNOUNCEMENT The National Council of Plastic Arts, the Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba (UNEAC), and the Graphic Society of Cienfuegos, in coordination with Espacio Ayón, the Belkis Ayón Estate, the Provincial Council of Plastic Arts, the Provincial Committee of the UNEAC and the Cuban Fund of Cultural Assets of the province of Cienfuegos, summon all interested artists and students to participate in the IV National Contest of Colography Belkis Ayón in tribute to one of the Cuban artists who marked, with her graphic and pedagogical work, a milestone in the history of Engraving in Cuba. Basis of Participation All Cuban students and artists with engravings made in the COLLOGRAPHY technique, printed between 2019 and 2020, who have not participated in a previous exhibition, event, or contest, may participate. Inscription The works must be sent unframed, through certified mail or in person, until March 18, 2020: To the Association of Plastic Artists of the UNEAC of Havana, appointment at 17 and H, Vedado. Tel. 78325781, in the case of artists and students residing in the western provinces (Pinar del Río, Havana, Artemisa, Mayabeque, Matanzas and Isla de la Juventud) To the Graphic Society of Cienfuegos, appointment at Ave. 50, # 2326, between Calle 23 and Calle 25, Cienfuegos 1, Cienfuegos. Tel. 43 517979, in the case of artists and students residing in the central provinces (Villa Clara, Cienfuegos, Sancti Spiritus and Ciego de Ávila) To the Caguayo Foundation, appointment at Calle 4 No. 403 between 15 and 17, Rpto Vista Alegre, Santiago de Cuba, CP 90400, Tel. 22 643492, in the case of artists and students residing in the eastern provinces (Camagüey, Las Tunas, Holguín, Granma, Santiago de Cuba, Guantánamo). Each artist will have the right to present three works (independent or triptych) duly signed and numbered in pencil, which cannot exceed 60 x 80 cm (paper measurements). Workshop or artist tests are not accepted. Selection A Jury will be appointed to select and award the works received. The selected and awarded works will be exhibited at the Cienfuegos Art Gallery, within the program of the 14th Feria de La Estampa, an event that will be officially inaugurated on April 9 and until April 12, 2020, making the final decision of the jury public. on April 9, at 9 pm, the opening day of the competitive exhibition. The exhibition will remain open to the public for 30 days. It will also be presented at the Casa del Benemérito de las Américas Benito Juárez of the City Historian Office, Havana, in 2020. The organizers of the contest are responsible for the care of the works sent, running with all the expenses generated by the return of the same to their authors. Prize A single and indivisible Grand Prize will be awarded consisting of 5 000.00 MN (donation from the printmaking workshop artists and the Belkis Ayón and Estate), a diploma, and a reproduction of a work by the artist to whom the contest is dedicated. The Jury will award mentions at its discretion, without a financial award. The awarded artist will be invited to the Printmaking Workshop "Magenta Rhinoceros" in the city of Toluca, Mexico, for a 10-day artistic residency. The winning works will become part of the Cienfuegos Stamp Cabinet. The awarded artist will be invited to carry out a personal exhibition at the Cienfuegos Art Center in 2022, within the official program of the V National Contest of Collography. The not-selected works must contact the Organizing Committee for their return. Participating in the National Collography Contest Belkis Ayón implies acceptance of these Terms and Conditions. The Jury's decision will be final. More information Organizing Committee of the National Collography Contest Belkis Ayón ESTATE OF BELKIS AYÓN, HAVANA belkat@cubarte.cult.cu | 7 642 3083 GRAPHIC SOCIETY OF CIENFUEGOS caceres69@azurina.cult.cu | 43 517979 www.ayonbelkis.cult.cu PREVIOUS NEWS NEXT NEWS

NEWS Belkis Ayón at the 34th São Paulo Biennial The 34th edition of the Sao Paulo Biennial will feature the work of Belkis Ayón (Havana 1967-1999). The event, one of the most prestigious in the world and an indisputable reference for the art of our continent, will host 16 works by the renowned Cuban artist. READ MORE February, 2020: Nkame arrives at the Chicago Cultural Center The traveling exhibition Nkame: A Retrospective of the Cuban Printmaker Belkis Ayón (1967-1999) will be inaugurated on February 29, 2020, at its sixth venue, the Chicago Cultural Center. READ MORE IV National Collography Contest Belkis Ayón Announcement for the IV national Collography Contest Belkis Ayón. April 9-12, 2020. Cienfuegos IV Edition postponed due to the epidemiological situation with the Covid-19 READ MORE Behind the veil of a myth. New book about Belkis Ayón's artwork Behind the veil of a myth, with texts by the curator Cristina Vives, was produced by the Station Museum of Contemporary Art and the Belkis Ayón Estate. READ MORE Nkame arrives at the Station Museum of Contemporary Art in Houston, Texas After the successful presentations in different cities of the United States while traveling through this country, the exhibition Nkame. A Retrospective of the Cuban Printmaker Belkis Ayón (1967-1999), arrives at the Station Museum in Houston, Texas. READ MORE Nkame: A Retrospective of the Cuban Printmaker Belkis Ayón, selected among the best of the art of 2017 worldwide by ARTnews magazine ... among other very important contemporary art exhibitions of the year, Nkame ... was selected in position number 4, among the best exhibitions in the world of the year 2017 ... READ MORE Nkame: A Retrospective of the Cuban Printamker Belkis Ayón, selected among the best of art of 2017 by the New York Times Nkame featured this summer at Museo del Barrio, NY (June 13 - November 5) was selected among the best of the art of 2017 by the New York Times ... READ MORE Nkame: A Retrospective of the Cuban Printmaker Belkis Ayón (1967-1999) at the Museo del Barrio, New York. The exhibition Nkame: A Retrospective of the Cuban Printmaker Belkis Ayón will be inaugurated at the Museo del Barrio in New York on June 13. This will be the second venue to host the artist's first personal exhibition at an institution in the United States ... READ MORE Nkame: A Retrospective of the Cuban Printmaker Belkis Ayon (1967-1999) at the Fowler Museum at UCLA This will be the artist's first personal exhibition at an institution in the United States. The exhibition brings together 43 works and a documentary by the American filmmaker Sun Meidia ... READ MORE Memories Belkis Ayón's work will be part of the exhibition "Memories" that will open next Thursday, April 14 at 6:00 pm in the Gallery Orígenes of the Gran Teatro de La Habana «Alicia Alonso». READ MORE The 2015 Palma Digital Prize is awarded to the website of the artist Belkis Ayón READ MORE An interdisciplinary course in order to improve English language skills The mysterious character in the image is a student who selected the piece by Belkis Ayón and covered his face alluding to the work it represented ... READ MORE Callaloo Art & Culture in the African Diaspora Magazine illustrated its cover with the piece La Cena, 1988 by Belkis Ayón Issue 4 of the Callaloo Art & Culture in the African Diaspora Magazine illustrated its cover with the piece La Cena de 1988 by Belkis Ayón, of which we can find a dossier with more of her works and specific aspects of her artistic life. READ MORE Agglutinated between the esoteric and the Manic Art Under the title of Witches, but also Warlocks, the Aglutinador space and the Maniac Art Museum these days exhibit a sui generis sample that blends art with rites and religious beliefs from different parts of the planet. READ MORE The book Nkame wins Second Prize for the best books published in Spain in 2010 The Ministry of Culture of Spain has awarded the Awards for the Best Edited Books in 2010. These awards do not have an economic endowment but are highly valued by publishers for what they mean of recognition and prestige to their editorial work, as well as for the dissemination that it entails, being included in the book promotion actions and exhibited at the main national and international fairs. READ MORE Curatorship Award 2009 The National Council of Plastic Arts presents the CURATORSHIP AWARD to Cristina Vives for NKAME. BELKIS AYÓN (1967-1999). ANTHOLOGICAL EXHIBITION. READ MORE Book NKAME. Belkis Ayón The National Museum of Fine Arts, the National Council of Plastic Arts, José A. Figueroa, and the Belkis Ayón Estate presented at the MNBA Theater. ARTE CUBANO Building, the books: NKAME, Belkis Ayón and José A. Figueroa. A Cuban Self-Portrait. READ MORE

EVA LEAVES AND TAKES FLIGHT. EVA CEASES BEING A RIB Havana, Cuba. October 13, 2014 As part of the visual arts event Ellas Crean , sponsored by the Embassy of Spain in Cuba, it was inaugurated in October 2014, the exhibition Eva leaves and takes flight, Eva ceases being a rib, with the curatorship of Gabriela García Azcuy. This exhibition shows the works of five outstanding women in the world of Cuban visual arts: Aimeé García, Belkis Ayón, Cirenaica Moreira, Rocío García and Sandra Ramos; which despite having begun their struggle for the plastic arts in the late 80's of the last century, have maintained, in the words of the curator, that "female protagonism, which twenty-five years later, remains in the art scene of the Island like an already stainless spring". Participating artists: Aimeé García, Belkis Ayón, Cirenaica Moreira, Rocío García, Sandra Ramos.

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