COLLECTIVE EXHIBITIONS 1983 II National Salon of Plastic Arts. Middle Level Schools. Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Havana, Cuba. . 1986 VII Biennial of San Juan of Latin American and Caribbean Engraving [November 19/1986 February 28/1987]. Arsenal de la Marina, San Juan, Puerto Rico. . 1987 La Joven Estampa Award. Haydeé Santamaría Gallery, Casa de las Américas, Havana, Cuba. . Encounter of Engraving 87. National Museum of Fine Arts, Havana, Cuba. . III International Exhibition of Engraving, New Delhi, India. . . 1988 Malerei und Grafik aus Kuba [January-February]. Kunsthalle Rostock, Rostock, GDR Cuban Art in Boston [May 9-23]. Massachusetts College of Art, Administration Building, Boston, MA., United States. 3rd Hall of Awardees [May]. National Museum of Fine Arts, Havana, CUBA. First Exhibition of Cuban Graphics in Guadalajara [July 7]. Cabañas Cultural Institute, Museum Area, rooms 127 130, Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico. VIII Biennial of San Juan of Latin American and Caribbean Engraving [September 30-December 30]. Arsenal de la Marina, San Juan, Puerto Rico. II Latin American Biennial of Graphic Arts. Museum of Contemporary Hispanic Art (MOCHA), NY, United States. . . 1989 Tribute (collateral to the Third Havana Biennial) [November]. Alamar Art Center, East Havana, Havana, Cuba. The 15th International Independent Exhibition of Prints in Kanagawa'89 [November 23-December 10]. Kanagawa Prefectural Gallery, Kanagawa, Japan. . 1990 Intergrafik'90 [April 17-May 27]. Berlin, GDR 6th International Biennial Exhibition of Portrait, Drawings and Graphic. Tuzla 90 [July 31-October 31]. The Yugoslav Portrait Gallery, Tuzla, Yugoslavia. La Joven Estampa Award [October 13?]. Haydeé Santamaría Gallery, Casa de las Américas, Havana, Cuba. [November 22-December 9]. Kanagawa Prefectural Gallery, Kanagawa, Japan. Young Cuban Recorders. Nucleus of Contemporary Art, Joao Pessoa, Paraiba / Museu Assis Chatebriant, Campina Grande, Paraiba / Federal University Gallery, Rio Grande do Norte / Evasión Gallery, Sâo Paulo, Brazil. . . 1991 Seventh Triennale India 1991 [February 13-March 14]. Lalit Kala Gallery / Rabindra Bhavan / Bahawalpur House Complex, New Delhi, India. Challenge to colonization. Fourth Biennial of Havana [November 15-December 31]. National Museum of Fine Arts, Havana, Cuba. Contemporary Cuban Engraving. Fourth Biennial of Havana [November]. Colonial Art Museum, Havana, Cuba. The Second Bharat Bhavan International Biennial of Prints [December 9-31]. Roopankar Museum of Fine Arts, Bharat Bhavan, Bhopa, India. . . 1992 Silk Screen Prints from René Portocarrero Serigraphy Workshop [January 15-February 14]. La Peña Cultural Center, Berkeley, CA., United States. Von dort aus: Kuba [March 12-May 31]. Ludwig Forum für Internationale Kunst, Aachen, Germany. Africa in America [July 3-19]. Casa das Artes e da Historia, Vigo, Spain. The Cuban Round [July 4-August 31]. Van Reekum Museum, Apeldoorn, The Netherlands. X Mostra da Gravura Cidade de Curitiba / Mostra America, Afro America A. Spiritual Contribution X. Mostra da Gravura [Outubro 16-Dezembro 6]. Romário Martins House, Curitiba, Brazil. Young Recorders [October 16-December 6]. Provincial Center of Plastic Arts and Design, Havana, Cuba. 20 Cuban Plastics [November 12-?]. University Artistic Center, National University of Cuyo, Mendoza, Argentina. The 17th International Independante Exhibition of Prints in Kanagawa'92 [November 19-December 6]. Kanagawa Prefectural Gallery, Kanagawa, Japan. Art Festival, Shanghai, China. . 1993 La Joven Estampa Award [June August]. Haydeé Santamaría Gallery, Casa de las Américas, Havana, Cuba. 1st Internationale Grafiek Biennale [June 24-August 9]. Maastricht Exhibition and Congress Center (MECC), Maastricht, The Netherlands. Punti Cardinali dell'Arte. XLV Biennale di Venezia [Giugno-Ottobre]. Istituto Italo Latino Americano, Venezia, Italy. Empassant de Collectie [October 1-December 4]. Van Reekum Museum, Apeldoorn, The Netherlands. Encounter of Engraving '93 [October-November]. Provincial Center of Plastic Arts and Design, Havana, Cuba. With their own hands [December / 1993-January / 1994]. Engraving Gallery, Experimental Graphic Workshop, Havana, Cuba. Five Creative Women. Palacio del Segundo Cabo, Havana, Cuba. Graphica Creativa 93. The 7th International Print Triennial. Alvar Aalto Museum, Finland. . 1994 La Jeune Peinture Cubaine [Janvier 18-Février 11]. Maison de la Culture du Lametin, Fort de France, Martinique, France. Arte do momento [February 28-March 6]. Gessy Lever Social Center, Valinhos, Brazil. Art of the moment [Março 11-18]. Biblioteca da FURB, Blumenau, Brazil. Art of the moment [Março 23-29]. Auditorio Alceu Amoroso Lima, Brazil. Art of the moment [April 11-16]. Latin American Gallery, House of the Americas, Havana, Cuba. Vindication of the Engraving [March 24-?]. La Acacia Gallery, Havana, Cuba. Cuban Art of Today / Art Cubain Actuel [Avril 14-Mai 7]. Galerie de L'UQAM, Université du Québec à Montréal, Montréal, Québec, Canada. A gap between heaven and earth. Fifth Biennial of Havana [May July]. Provincial Center of Plastic Arts and Design, Havana, Cuba. Cuban Art. The Last Sixty Years [October 15-December 31]. Panamerican Art Gallery, Dallas, TX., United States. The Shapes of the Earth [February-March]. Buades Gallery, Madrid, Spain. Kunst aus Kuba [March-April]. Museum Bavaria, Zürich, Switzerland. One of Each Class. Ludwig de Cuba Foundation [March 26-?]. Center for Conservation, Restoration and Museology (CENCREM), Havana, Cuba. [Video catalog] International Exhibition of Contemporary Art of Non-Aligned Countries [April 28-June 30]. National Gallery, Jakarta, Indonesia. Kuba Kunst Heute. Grafiksammlug Schreiner [July]. Stadtgalerie Bamberg, Villa Dessauer, Bamberg, Germany. Made in Cuba [July August]. «Luis Miró Quesada» room. Cultural Center of the Municipality of Miraflores, Lima, Peru. Art of the Moment II. Cuba Mexico Brazil [July-August]. Espuela de Plata Gallery, Center for the Development of Visual Arts, Havana, CUBA. / [October]. Michoacan Institute of Culture, Michoacán, Morelia, Mexico. Cuban Mystic. Arte dell'ultima generazione [October 18-November 5]. Openspace, Palazzo dell'Arengario / [Ottobre 18-29]. Spazio Vigentina, Milano, Italy. . nineteen ninety five Current Cuban Plastic [October 24/1995 February 3/1996]. Fotocentre (Gallery of the Union of Journalists of Russia), Moscow, Russia / [1996]. Embassy of the Republic of Cuba, Beijing, China. . XI Mostra da Gravura Cidade de Curitiba [Outubro 31 December 29]. Fundaçao Cultural de Curitiba, Curitiba, Brazil. Contemporary Cuban Painting. Cuban Afro-Caribbean Painting Show [November 7-?]. Veracruzano Institute of Culture, Veracruz / [November 23-?]. "Ramón Alva de la Canal" University Gallery, Veracruzana University, Veracruz / [December 6-?]. Cabildos Room, CD. Mendoza, Veracruz / [December 18-24]. Town Hall, Orizaba, Veracruz, Mexico. Estampa Edition 95. International Exhibition of Engraving and Contemporary Art Editors [November 7-12]. Superior Room of the Old Spanish Museum of Contemporary Art, Madrid, Spain. 1st. Contemporary Cuban Art Salon [November 15/1995 January 15/1996]. National Museum of Fine Arts, Havana, Cuba. Warehouse Gallery, Lee, MA., United States. Alex Rosenberg Fine Art, NY, United States. . Women Beyond Borders [1995]. Wifredo Lam Center, Havana, CUBA. / [nineteen ninety five]. Santa Barbara Contemporary Arts Forum, Santa Barbara, CA., UNITED STATES. / [nineteen ninety six]. ICC Contemporary Gallery, Jerusalem, ISRAEL / [1996]. Kunstlerhaus, Graz, AUSTRIA / [August 7/1998]. Wifredo Lam Center, Havana, Cuba. . nineteen ninety six Dream World. Young Cuban Plastic [February-March]. House of America, Madrid, Spain. Zonder Woorden [March]. Van Reekum Museum, Apeldoorn, The Netherlands. Arte do Momento. Encontre Latino Americano de Artes [Março]. Pavilhâo Antonio Palácio Neto, Mons. Bruno Nardini Municipal Park, Valinhos, Brazil. Cuba 20th century. Modernity and Syncretism [April 16 June 9] Atlantic Center of Modern Art, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria / [July 2 September 1]. La Caixa Foundation, Palma de Mayorca / [October 8 November 17]. Center d'Art Santa Mónica, Generalitat de Catalunya, Barcelona, ​​Spain. Skulpturen und Grafische Werke aus Kuba [September 25-November 2]. Museum Leuengasse, Zürich, Switzerland. The budding womb. Contemporary Cuban Graphic Art Show [November-December]. Exhibition Hall, Faculty of Arts, University of Antioquia, Colombia. . Transgressing the Limits / Today as Yesterday. The Multiple Footprint. Collective Exhibition of Contemporary Engraving [December / 1996 January / 1997]. Visual Arts Development Center, Havana, Cuba. . 1997 ARCO'97 International Contemporary Art Fair [February 13-18]. Juan Carlos I Fair Park, Madrid, Spain. Represented by Galería Habana, Havana, Cuba. Pervasive Referents. Belkis Ayón, Attila Richard Lukacs, Elsa María Mora, Manuel Ocampo [April 19-May 31]. Phyllis Kind Gallery, NY, United States. '97 Kwangju Biennale. Unmapping the Earth. Speed. Hybrid. Power. Becoming [September 1-November 27]. Art Museum. Kwangju, South Korea. Take part in the «Hybrid» section. Polychrome of black. Contemporary Cuban art [September 11-?]. Quintana Monterde. Contemporary Art, Mexico, DF, Mexico. Encounter of Engraving'97 [November]. Visual Arts Development Center, Havana, Cuba. . . 1998 Comment peut-on être cubain? [Février 10-Mars 12]. Maison de L'Amérique Latine, Paris / [Juliet]. Counvent des Minimes, Perpignan, France. XII Biennial of San Juan of Latin American and Caribbean Engraving [April 30-September 30]. Arsenal de la Marina, Institute of Puerto Rican Culture, San Juan, Puerto Rico. ART BA'98. 7th Art Galleries Fair [May 15-24]. General San Martín Municipal Exhibition Center, Buenos Aires, Argentina. Contemporary Art of Cuba [June 2-July 5]. Urasoe Museum, Okinawa / [July 18-August 2]. Hillside Forum Daikanyama, Tokyo / [December 1-7]. Iwaki City Cultural Hall, Iwaki, Japan. Contemporary Art From Cuba: Irony and Survival on the Utopian Island [September 26-December 13/1998] Arizona State University Art Museum, Tempe, AZ./[January 15-May 2/1999] Center for the Arts at Yerba Buena Gardens, San Francisco, CA./[June 5-August 15/1999]. Canbrook Art Museum, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan / [September 4-November 7/1999]. Austin Museum of Art, Austin, TX. / [February 11-April 23/2000]. Grand Rapids Art Museum, Grand Rapids, Michigan / [May 19-September 10/2000]. Museum of Latin American Art, Long Beach, CA, / [October 10-December 10/2000]. University Art Museum, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA./[January 13-March 18/2001]. Spencer Museum of Art, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS./[May 11-July 14/2001]. University of South Florida, Contemporary Art Museum, Tampa Bay, FL., United States. Creole Kongo. Artists in Crossroads. Boricua Gallery Workshop [October 23-November 20], NY, United States. Estampa Edition 98. International Exhibition of Engraving and Contemporary Art Editors [November]. Fairground of Casa Campo, Madrid, Spain. . 1999 La Huella Múltiple 1999. Center for the Development of Visual Arts / Center for Conservation, Restoration and Museology (CENCREM), [January 15-February 13], Havana, Cuba. The 4th Kochi International Triennial Exhibition of Prints [March 12-]. Kochi, Japan. Afro-Cuban Contemporary Graphic Art. Roca, Miranda, Torres and Manso [April 7-August 13]. The Kennedy Center, Washington, DC, United States. Working for English [May 14-June 27]. Concourse Gallery, Ground Floor and Stalls, Barbican Center, London, UK Rituals Contemporary Room [May-June]. House of the Americas, Havana, Cuba. International Fair of Modern and Contemporary Art [September 16-20]. Carrousel del Louvre, Paris, France. Kunst-Welten im Dialog [November 5/1999-March 5/2000]. Museum Ludwig, Cologne, Germany. Cuban art. Beyond paper [December 3-1999-January-2000]. Conde Duque Cultural Center, Madrid, Spain. Gallery Gan, Tokyo, Japan, 1997 Casa América, Madrid, Spain, 1996 Apeldoorn, The Netherlands, 1992

ART COLLECTION

Confessions ​ Belkis Ayon February 11, 1991 ​ Some time ago I studied some of the components of our culture, on the African side, the carabalíes and of them the Abakuá Secret Society, made up only of men, a mutual aid and relief society, self-financed by its members. It resurfaces in the 30s of the 19th century in Cuba under other conditions and objectives very different from those of its African ancestors. There are people who feel and have the need to believe in something, which is inherent to human existence and one of those many examples is the following ... that even after so many years initiation ceremonies are held, promotion of obones or creation of new powers; crying or nlloro (funeral ceremony for the death of a member of society); that of refreshing the sacred pieces of the liturgy; as well as the assemblies of squares or the general assemblies; that are still carried out mainly in Havana and Matanzas, exclusively in Cuba. "To be a man you do not have to be an Abakuá but, to be an Abakuá you have to be a man", society does not come to seek prestige but to give it prestige, the best of itself. "There were women in Calabar who played like men in their power (...) and when the ceremonies began, in the mountains, in a cave on the banks of a lagoon, the men stole their secret ..." "Ekue hates women females. The secret is absolutely for MEN ... "(1) By addressing this unknown and hermetic theme for many, not being popular as another component of the Cuban cultural heritage for dealing with certain aspects that have not yet been clarified, I intend above all to make my vision known from its interwoven overflowing sacred memories religious imagination, presenting them in a synthetic way the aesthetic, plastic and poetic aspect that I have discovered in Abakuá (...) "transferring a complex message that despite its conceptual dimension is never direct but allusive ..." (2), going back many times to its origins in Africa. The antecedents of this secret society must be looked for well past in time because they arose in very primitive economic-social formations where man faced the unknown countless times, always seeking a satisfactory answer to the natural and social phenomena that surrounded him. that in my engravings you will be able to observe an infinity of points that coincide with the cultural fact itself, verifiable both in the field of ideas and in visual references. The antecedents of the ñañigos were back in Africa the Secret Societies Ngbe and Ekpe whose names in ekoi and efik respectively mean leopard man. These associations, due to their cults and their great economic and ideological power, were spreading the leopard as a totemic animal whose ... "fraternity is established on a foot of perfect equality between a human group on one side and a group of things, generally animals and plants ..." from the other, as Frazer would deduce in Man, God, and Immortality, totemism, together with the other primitive religious forms (magic, fetishism, and animism) generally achieve sympathetic magic by law of similarity as a result, which they will permeate the life of primitive man, his thoughts and actions. These societies can be found in the area that was included in the so-called Oil Rivers, from the piers of the vast Niger Delta and the Cross River in present-day South Nigeria and part of Cameroon, in front of the Biafra Bay. When I begin to investigate this interesting and mysterious brotherhood, unique in Cuba in its sacred memories -by the way very tangled-I can select characters that in my view are the most important to convey what I want and will be presented in all my works as : the leopard man, designated and identified with him by the different positions and hierarchies of society, to Sikán, a woman who discovers the secret and is sacrificed so that it passes to men and does not disappear. Sikán dies in vain, the secret fades more and more; This consisted of a voice, UYO UYO ANFONO sacred voice produced by a fish discovered by her when she returned from the river, the fish was the reincarnation of the old king called Obón Tanzé, King of Efigueremo who at the same moment was the reincarnation of Abasí, GOD SUPREME. Many were the efforts and attempts, for the transmission of the sacred voice because each time it faded more. The last transmission was on the hide of a goat; There yes! There yes! There was ... "that peculiar, frighteningly adorable sound ..." (3), the voice that vibrates on the sacred EKUE drum. There are innumerable variations of popular imagery when recounting how the events that gave rise to this type of secret society happened and from them I show you my variations intertwining their signs with mine; I use colography turned into a medium with which I feel very identified since it adjusts to my way of doing and that for some years I have been working, offering very peculiar visual information with effects and results that in a certain way harmonize with the subject. In addition to the possibilities that it presents in its multiple nature, which as it is generally defined, is the printing of a collage with a wide variety of materials which are glued on a cardboard support. Referring to the use of color there was a stage that I worked with a great variety of them and at that moment I was very satisfied, but over time I began to feel a certain nostalgia for black, I recognized that I was strongly united making me return to it. According to the materials that I use, he gives me a whole range of whites, grays and blacks, conceiving him as a great ally of the type of figuration I work with, with his composition ... all so hermetic, secret and mysterious in addition to the strength that he transmits to us. I think that these engravings could be a spiritual testimony if you will, not lived in my own flesh, but imagined, where I placed in the foreground an equivalent of the human figure, on which my ideas ultimately and consequently turn, which are memories of the memory materialized as a kind of crush that when the light is turned off and on, new memories appear accompanied by a successful classmate, intuition. I consider that there is a very close relationship between the vision that I offer you and that of the Abakuá Secret Society clearly transmitted in the work of Lydia Cabrera: … "By the knowledge and power of the signs, it makes the past present, recreates the hill, the river, the palm tree, in the sacred places of Awána Bekúra Mendó." Belkis Ayon / 91 ​ NOTES: (1) CABRERA, Lidia. The Abakuá Secret Society narrated by old followers. Havana, Editions CR, 1958 (2) MOSQUERA, Gerardo. Essay on America. Juan Francisco Elso. March 1986 (3) CABRERA, Lidia. The Abakuá Secret Society narrated by old followers. Havana, Editions CR, 1958 PREVIOUS ARTICLE BACK TO TEXTS

WITCHES, BUT ALSO WARLOCKS Museo de Arte Maníaco, Colonial house by Alfredo Ramos, on Línea 106, Havana, Cuba. October 26, 2014 Under the title of Witches, but also warlocks, the Aglutinador space and the Maniac Art Museum these days shows a sui generis exhibitions that blends art with religious rites and beliefs from different parts of the planet. Celebrating its twenty years, this space for creation and exhibition directed by the artist Sandra Ceballos, brought together almost fifty people in this exhibition where spirits, amulets, orishas, paranormal events and energy are the protagonists. Artists, esoteric astrologers, researchers, healers, ritualists, believers, practitioners, mystics, both Cuban and foreign, invoke magic, sensuality and spirituality through various techniques, styles, textures, genres, and both conventional and experimental expressive possibilities. The exhibition, made up of 38 works, can be seen until the end of this month in the colonial house of Alfredo Ramos, on Línea 106, permanent headquarters of the Museum of Manic Art in Havana.

RESLESSNESS / RESLESSNESS Belkis Ayón Manso ​ When Darrel Couturier sent to request by fax the title for this exhibition he still did not have it, he had not even thought about it, to be honest. That day I had a great commitment to attend the opening of the first personal exhibition of two of my students. After finishing my work as a spectator and as a guardian angel (teacher), I went to my friend Cristina's house where I would meet Rafa who would bring the letter to Darrel with the title of the exhibition. When I left this other, nothing occurred to me - I entered a state of desperation imperceptible to the eye - again showing my moderate personality, less to laugh and do great colography. I thought about the works that I had already finished and I asked myself what feelings they have in common, since in general I have been working on the subject for years - and I associate it a little with what I have been feeling in recent months, a great UNREST, something that almost unconsciously my work began to appear. As, I previously mentioned the subject that I have been working on for years, since I began to study in the 3 year of the San Alejandro Academy, it is one of the components of Cuban culture on the African side, the carabalíes and of them, the Secret Society Abakúa, made up only of men, which emerged in the 1930s in the 19th century in Cuba. Above all, I intend to give my vision, my point of view as an observer, presenting in a synthetic way the aesthetic, plastic and poetic aspect that I have discovered in Abakúa relating it to the questioning of the nature of man, with personal experiences, that feeling that sometimes it captures and we do not know how to define them, with those fleeting emotions, with the spiritual incorporating symbols from other cultures that I use to express my ideas with greater richness and quality. I work with characters such as the leopard man, identifying with him the power, the composition, the aggression of society, a male who sacrifices Sikán, a woman who discovers the secret and dies for the sake of it passing to men and not disappearing. The secret consisted of a voice, SACRED VOICE, produced by a FISH discovered by her when she returned from the river, the fish was the reincarnation of Old Obón, Tanzé, of Abasí, the Supreme God. The transmission of the sacred voice was finally settled on the hide of a goat vibrating on the sacred drum of EKUE. My images come to them through the technical colography of engraving that consists of a kind of collage printed with a wide variety of materials placed and glued on a cardboard support. Sikán, a woman who prevails in the works presented because she, like me, lived and lives through me in uneasiness, insistently looking for a way out. ​ Belkis Ayon Havana, Cuba, January 1998 BACK TO REVELATIONS NEXT ARTICLE

FRG: BELKIS AYÓN Gallery FRG OBJECTS & DESIGN / ART, Hudson, New York, United States. ​ August - September, 2014 The FRG OBJECTS & DESIGN / ART gallery, specialized in the art of design, from Hudson, New York, had the pleasure of presenting in August last year, a collection of visionary pieces, rarely appreciated in the United States, by the Cuban artist Belkis Ayón (Havana, 1967-1999), from the private collection of Carole and Alex Rosenberg. The pieces could be appreciated in an environment designed in parity, complete harmony, and connection with these masterpieces of contemporary Cuban printmaking. The exhibition opened to the public until September 30, 2014.

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

BELKIS AYÓN ESTATE FOUNDATION ​ Created by Dra. Katia Ayón Manso, in 2003, the Estate has set itself as its main objectives: • Promote the artist's plastic work • Preserve and restore printed works • Preserve and restore matrices • Creation of the Ayón Space Opening of the exhibition Nkame: A Retrospective of the Cuban printmaker, Belkis Ayón (1967-1999), Station Museum of Contemporary Art, Houston, Texas, United States, 2018 ACHIEVEMENTS ​ Since the creation of the Estate, the work of Belkis Ayón has been present in innumerable solo and personal exhibitions of a national and international nature, which shows the importance of her work for Cuban and universal culture. ​ The BELKIS AYÓN AWARD was given on the occasion of the VII National Printmaking Encounter that convenes the Experimental Graphic Workshop of Havana and in recognition of the valuable teaching work carried out by the artist, it was decided to award a prize among the competing works of the students of the second year of the San Alejandro from the National Academy of Plastic Arts. ​ In 2009 we held the first anthological exhibition of the artist in the Convent of San Francisco de Asís, Old Havana. In 2010 we carried out a very significant and transcendental project for her work of art, the book Nkame. Belkis Ayón, produced by the Turner Publishing House in Madrid, and the participation of important researchers and art critics such as José Veigas, Cristina Vives, David Mateo, Lázara Menéndez, Orlando Hernández, Eugenio Valdés, and others who exalted with a great vision the engravings of the artist. ​ Since 2016, the exhibition Nkame has toured different cities in the United States in successful presentations, receiving an excellent reception from the American public. With the curatorship of Cristina Vives and the management of the tour by Landau Traveling Exhibitions, Los Angeles, California. ​ Fowler Museum, UCLA, Los Angeles, California. 2016 - 2017 Museo del Barrio, New York, New York. 2017. Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City, Missouri. 2017. Station Museum of Contemporary Art, Houston, Texas, 2018 Scottsdale, Museum of Contemporary Art, Scottsdale, Arizona. 2018 - 2019 Chicago Cultural Center, Chicago, Illinois. 2020 (Closed earlier to the public due to the COVID-19 pandemic) Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon. 2021 ​ ​ Inauguration of Nkame: Belkis Ayón (1967-1999) Retrospective Exhibition, Convent of San Francisco de Asís, Old Havana, Havana, Cuba, 2009 Opening of the Nkame Exhibition: A Retrospective of the Cuban printmaker, Belkis Ayón (1967-1999), Museo del Barrio , New York, New York, United States, 2017 PROJECTIONS ​ Future projects are based on continuing to disseminate the legacy of Belkis to transcend among future generations of artists and make printmaking a greater art that occupies the place it deserves as a manifestation of the plastic arts.

COLLECTIVE EXHIBITIONS Renderings. New Narratives and Reinterpretations Mechanical Hall at Delaware University, Philadelphia, United States September 3 - 30, 2014 Read more Havana Factory, Old Havana, Havana, Cuba. ​ May 23 - August 23, 2014 ​ ​ Glances Read more Without Masks. Contemporary Afro-Cuban Art. Museum of Anthropology (MOA), University of British Columbia, Johannesburg Gallery of Art, Vancouver, Canada, Johannesburg, South Africa ​ May 2 - November 2, 2014 Read more Shanghai Urban Planning Exhibition Center (SUPEC), Shanghai, China ​ March 3 - April 8, 2014 Rolling they meet. The Art Collection from the National Council of Plastic Arts Read more In the heat of the thought. Works from the Daros Latinoamérica Collection Santander Group City Art Room, Madrid, Spain February 3 - April 30, 2010 Read more previous Next

Belkis Ayón. The preamble to an infinite journey to earth. ​ ​ Norberto Marrero December 1, 1999 © Extramuros, 1, December 1999, pp. 25-26 ​ ​ For us, weary of the tumult and bad nights, reaching Alamar (land of promise) meant, among other things, being able to verify that there was still a full place, devoid of hatred and betrayal; a castle where we could exercise ourselves in the greatest and clearest spiritual tranquility. Then Belkis would appear with her enormous eyes of an Egyptian goddess, she ushered us in, and no one dared to let go of her spirit anymore, and we would be left hanging comfortably by her smile, her contagious optimism. I see Belkis as that mysteriously invulnerable woman, ready to offer us the best spaghetti in Havana and the clearest beer, capable of satiating the appetite, thirst, and fatigue of the most demanding traveler; I see her there with her kind and enthusiastic face, giving each of us a torrent of affection and vitality. When I met her in San Alejandro, I was just another student in the evening course with an avid interest in printmaking. She was already the artist that everyone admired, a teacher of two groups of students in the day course, quite numerous. With somewhat excessive persistence, in which I silently slipped away among her disciples and patiently waited for each moment of respite to ask her any technical or conceptual concerns, to which she responded without the slightest qualm, without the slightest suspicion. At the end of my four years of studies we had become very good friends, and by chance, almost always unpredictable, she ended up being the opponent of my thesis. I remember her as one of those essential teachers, very concerned for her students from San Alejandro, to whom she gave all her knowledge about engraving, including very expensive materials that she managed to buy on her travels, or others that were donated to her by foreign friends; catalogs and all kinds of information that he managed to collect. For a long time, the Chair of Engraving of Saint Alexander survived thanks to his unrelenting interest. She was an irreplaceable friend, and I can't stop thinking about her eyes, with her always encouraging words. For Cuban culture, impeccable work will remain, overflowing with perfection and constancy, of exquisite elegance. A path opened by someone who dedicated a large part of his days to specially promoting Cuban engraving, with unquestionable seriousness and professionalism. For Cuban culture, it is the gross and useless loss of an artist who with her scarce thirty-two years managed to climb the highest levels of national and international culture in the plastic arts, with an astonishingly mature work, of great originality and spiritual depth. . For those of us who loved her, for those of us who were by her side, something more intimate, more imperishable, will remain. We will be left with his goodness, his disinterested way of giving himself, his concern for everything that meant the well-being of his family and his friends, which was the same; his desire to always achieve a fair and happy future for artists and friends. I remember now when he received one of the prizes from the Puerto Rico Engraving Biennial, one of the most important graphic arts events on the continent. It was a moderately happy surprise for her; I could assure you that he received it with a certain amount of modesty. However, I very well remember her inordinate joy and pride when Abel (1) visited La Huella Múltiple, and with her, he toured each of the exhibition halls, which he had appreciated in their exceptional quality. I looked at his eyes and could perceive endless wonderful thoughts, plans for engraving, opportunities never latent before as up to that moment, and then we remembered all the difficulties to carry out the event, the early mornings of work at the UNEAC putting together the catalogs, the money that was not enough and that much of it came from his pocket; the difficulty of assembling many of the pieces, the fatigue, the sleep, and although we always had the conviction that La Huella ... would cost us a lot, now, while we talked about Abel and all that, we knew deep inside that the effort would not it had been in vain. Her work as Vice President of Plastic Arts at UNEAC, for many of the engraving artists who knew her, was a saving dream; there was someone who gave engraving its true importance, such a laborious technique and so much tradition in Cuban culture. Belkis was not only a very responsible artist but also was absolutely affordable for any artist, not only for the most important but also, since they paid special attention, to those less known, less "privileged". He had a special agglutinating capacity, thanks to which he carried out any event, counting not only on the engravers but also on the sculptors, the photographers ... To all this he gave himself with absolute devotion, leaving aside, even, his own work of creation. Today, while making the same trip that I did so many times, I think about the time that Eliseo left us (2), and I cannot conceive of including Belkis in that immaterial, insubstantial time; I try to understand their essences, their latitudes, and I cannot manage their body and spirit through those labyrinths. For some, it is the unspoken and irreversible end. For others it is one of her many trips, one of which inexplicably sometimes she returned very depressed, even having done very well professionally. For me, it is neither one nor the other. I still know that he will be there, in his castle (and ours), waiting for the first traveler, thirsty, spreading his arms. I know this is absolutely true and I don't want to be fooled. We share too many joys, too many sorrows, too many truths, and although for all this means a selfish and terribly devastating loss, we will try to be calm. I wonder about the things that we did not say to each other, because of how dark no one perceived, about the things that we did not understand, and then I think: ​ How else would I see suicide, if not as a prelude of a fervent banquet, and tell each other why it would be worth very little to strip ourselves of our sardonic sorcery as if all our anguish ended there, where the water runs transparent and the salt shines like gold vomited by a goat. How else would we see emptiness. One and the other are voracious objects that our exhausted youth possesses, a relic of knowledge that is spent so inevitably like our children. Love accompanies bodies when they die. A fine line divides the stones and desire. Patience. Before the yew tree, patience. After the desserts, slow and infinite patience. Then I arrive at the door of that wonderful castle. When it opens the door she appears, says "hello", and her huge eyes pull me, Apprehending me for all eternity ​ (1) - Abel Prieto, Minister of Culture of the Republic of Cuba. (N. of the publisher) (2) - It refers to the Cuban poet Eliseo Diego and his poem "Testament", where he bequeaths to future generations "the time, all the time." (N. of the publisher) ​ PREVIOUS article back to texts

CURATORSHIP AWARD 2009 ​ July 1, 2010 Virginia Alberdi Benitez © Granma newspaper The National Council of Plastic Arts presents the CURATORSHIP AWARD to Cristina Vives for the NKAME. BELKIS AYÓN (1967-1999) ANTHOLOGICAL EXHIBITION. Curatorship Award 2009 Personal exhibition Title: Nkame. Belkis Ayón (1967-1999). Anthological Exhibition Date: September 11 - December 20, 2009 Place: San Francisco de Asís Convent, Havana, Cuba. The general direction of the project: Dra. Katia Ayón. Estate of Belkis Ayón Curator: Cristina Vives Invited curator for collateral exhibitions at Espacio Ayón: Cristina Figueroa Graphic design: Laura Llópiz Spot: Raúl Valdés (Raupa) Sponsors: National Council of Plastic Arts San Francisco de Asís Convent Belkis Ayón Estate The City Historian Office National Museum of Fine Arts, Havana Ericsson Air Europe PREVIOUS NEWS NEXT NEWS

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