Belkis Ayón (1967-1999) Contemporary Cuban Printmaker. Specialized in the technique of Collography, creating monumental prints, inspired by the legends, myths, and rituals of the Abakuá Secret Society, creating a breathtaking artistic iconography for this religion, that had been never seen before in Cuban art. Belkis Ayón. Mythologies Bildmuseet Umea, Sweden May 23 – November 11, 2025 Collection

NKAME: A RETROSPECTIVE OF THE CUBAN PRINTMAKER BELKIS AYÓN (1967-1999) AT MUSEO DEL BARRIO, NEW YORK. May 26, 2017 Yadira Leyva Ayón © Belkis Ayón Estate The exhibition Nkame: A Retrospective of the Cuban Printmaker Belkis Ayón will be inaugurated at Museo del Barrio in New York on June 13th. This will be the second venue to host the artist's first personal exhibition at an institution in the United States. The exhibition brings together 48 works, a documentary by the American filmmaker Sun Meidia and an interview with Belkis Ayón conducted by the journalist Ines Anselmi in 1993, visualized with images of the artist and her work. The exhibition, organized by the Belkis Ayón Estate and Museo del Barrio, is curated by Cristina Vives. It will be open to the public until November 5, 2017. PREVIOUS NEWS NEXT NEWS

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.

Belkis Ayón at th e 34th São Paulo Biennal Although is dark, I still sign Design for the catalogue of the 34th São Paulo Biennial and some works included in the main exhibition 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

PUBLICATIONS Nkame Mafimba. Belkis Ayon Dimensions: 24 × 31 cm Pages: 400 Binding: chrome-plated hardcover with French dust jacket ISBN: 978-84-19539-24-3 Language: Bilingual Spanish-English Second revised and expanded edition of Belkis Ayón's catalog raisonné. Available in: Turner Libros Belkis Ayon (Havana, 1967-1999) is a key figure in the history of Cuban art. With her unexpected death, aesthetic inquiries and technical procedures of considerable impact on contemporary engraving were interrupted. Belkis deployed a rigorous intellectual research on the Abakuá Secret Society, which allowed her to discover its symbolic and cultural universe in order to build an inimitable visual narrative. The founding myth of Sikán became the thematic referent of the discourse traced by the artist. The character became an alter ego, allowing her to channel deep existential questions and, at the same time, stimulate a re-reading of themes such as identity, power relations, fear, pain or sexuality. In the sacred Abakuá language, Nkame mafimba means to praise, story, conversation in the deep. Twenty-five years after her death, the legacy of this creator continues to inspire profound reflections in the contemporary cultural scene. This new edition expanded and revised by her Estate, contains as a novelty the cataloging and reproduction of all the artist's matrices. The book includes two QRs that refer to all the texts in Spanish and English of the first edition on one hand and, on the other, to the texts of the new edition in German, following the reunion with the Ludwig Foundation in Aachen, which has supported this publication. In bookstores from November 20th, 2024. Behind the veil of a Myth. Belkis Ayon Project Management: Dra. Katia Ayón. Belkis Ayón Estate Editorial Edition and Texts: Cristina Vives Design: Laura Llópiz Translation: Gloria Riva, Olimpia Sigarroa 210 Pages | English Edition Station Museum of Contemporary Art, 2018 ISBN: 978-1-4951-4650-3 Available on: Ebay "Behind the veil of a myth" considers the most significant moments of the creative process of the Cuban engraver Belkis Ayón (Havana, 1967-1999), followed by a virtual tour of the exhibition "Nkame. A retrospective of the Cuban engraver Belkis Ayón ", exhibited in Cuba for the first time in September 2009, traveling through different museums in the United States since 2016. Based on the study of the work of Belkis Ayón carried out by the curator Cristina Vives, as well as in parts of an interview with the artist, and extensively illustrated with the 48 pieces that make up the exhibition among others, "Behind the veil of a myth" offers a description of the creative life of Belkis and the main motivations that led her to an investigation that totally absorbed her short but intense artistic life: The Secret Society Abakuá. His work evolved from the stage of "representation" of the myth during his student years, to a later artistic moment in which the myth served as a vehicle for a post-modern disguise, which characterized young Cuban artists in the 90's. after the collapse of European socialism. Belkis' monumental engravings were pioneers in Cuba and worldwide and provided the Abakuá legend with an overwhelming iconography, which it did not have previously. "Behind the veil of a myth" is an approach that interconnects the artist with the Cuban and international context and the unequivocal signs of the present and the universality that her work communicates from her deep social and liberating vocation. exclusive release exclusive release exclusive release exclusive release Belkis Ayón Ines Anselmi, Jaime Sarusky 89 Páginas | [NAME] Publications, 2024 | Tapa dura | 9.5 x 6.75 inches | Textos en Español e Inglés | ISBN: 9798988981701 Precio de venta: $35.00 Availability: [NAME] Publications Published in collaboration with David Castillo, Belkis Ayón is an 89-page bilingual monograph focusing on the voice and work of the late printmaker. The book includes two historical interviews with filmmaker Ines Anselmi and the late journalist Jaime Sarusky, providing insights into Ayón’s methods, style, and her exploration of Abakuá fraternal society in Cuba. Ayón’s words reveal the significance of the society’s origin story, iconography, and practices in shaping her own visual language. Alongside these interviews, the publication features full-page plates showcasing notable works created by the artist between 1989 and 1999. Despite Ayón’s restrained palette of black, brown, and gray, each work in the book unveils a universe of intricate details and textures, conveying profound meanings which she achieved through her unique process of collagraphy. Belkis Ayón is published on the occasion of the first gallery solo exhibition of Ayón’s work since her passing in 1999, organized by David Castillo and the Belkis Ayón Estate. The exhibition will be on view at David Castillo from January 30 – April 25, 2024. Belkis Ayón Manso (January 23, 1967 – September 11, 1999) pursued her education at the San Alejandro Academy in Havana, Cuba (1986) and earned her Bachelor’s degree in engraving from the Instituto Superior de Arte, Havana (1991). She participated in residencies at the Tyler School of Art, Temple University, Philadelphia; the Brodsky Center, Philadelphia College of Art; and Benson Hall Gallery, Rhode Island School of Design. Ayón left a lasting impact on the art world, participating in significant international exhibitions during her lifetime, including the 45th Venice Biennale. Ongoing retrospectives of her work, starting with the Fowler Museum at UCLA in 2016 and most recently at the Museo Reina Sofia in Madrid, underscore her enduring influence. Her work has also been included at the 59th Venice Biennale and the 34th Bienal de São Paulo. Ayón’s work can be found in private and public collections worldwide, including The Museum of Modern Art, NY, and the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. Nkame. Belkis Ayon Project Management: Dra. Katia Ayón. Belkis Ayón Estate Editorial Concept: Cristina Vives Authors: José Veigas, Cristina Vives, David Mateo, Lázara Menéndez Design: Laura Llópiz 296 Pages | 400 Images | Bilingual Spanish / English Edition Turner Editores, Madrid, 2010 ISBN: 978-84-7506-916-6 Availability: SOLD OUT SECOND EDITION IN THE PRODUCTION PROCESS Book made with the Sponsorship of: Daros Latinamerica Collection, Zürich, Switzerland | The Von Christierson Collection, London, England | Afrikan Museum, Berg en Dal, The Netherlands | Cisneros-Fontanalls Foundation, Miami, USA | Alex and Carole Rosenberg, New York, USA | Brownsote Foundation, Paris, France | Caguayo Foundation, Santiago de Cuba, Cuba. Belkis Ayón (1967-1999) left, after her death, a set of essential works for contemporary printmaking. The religion and the Abakuá Secret Society (original from the African Calabar, and settled in Cuba since the 19th century) served the artist as a "cite" and a "reference" to construct a universal discourse against marginalization, frustration, fear, censorship, impotence and in favor of the search for freedom. This society, created by men and for men, stigmatizes and segregates women and, in turn, maintains strict discipline and maintains unassailable ethics and mystery. Belkis penetrated the space of the rite as far as he was allowed and studied all the sources of information at her reach. As a result, she created an overwhelming iconography and interpreted religious myth from her position as a woman, black, and Latina artist in the late 20th century. Nkame, synonymous with praise and salutation in the Abakuá language, pays tribute to a creator who left a message of life with her death.

BONDED BETWEEN THE ESOTERIC AND MANIC ART October 6, 2014 Cecilia Crespo © OnCuba Magazine Under the title of Witches, but also Warlocks, the Aglutinador space and the Maniac Art Museum these days exhibit a sui generis exhibition that blends art with rites and religious 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 nearly fifty people in this exhibition where spirits, amulets, orishas, paranormal events, and energy are the protagonists. Artists, esoterics, 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 show, made up of 38 works, can be seen until the end of this month in the colonial house of Alfredo Ramos, on Línea106, permanent headquarters of the Museum of Maniac Art in Havana. Sandra Ceballos told OnCuba that the exhibition is not about showing religious or folk art. The artistic intention is to excavate in the enigmatic presence of the "Eggun or dead as the matrix of all clandestine psychophysical phenomena, legitimize and qualify precisely those intelligent energies that do not sin as egocentric and that are possibly more authentic and spontaneous than the material world." “Defend their spokesmen, historically discriminated against and repressed by 'science'. To investigate the 'vaporous intervention' of spirits in life, that is the objective" she added. Bruges ... puts an extensive catalog for the consideration of disbelievers and faithful, impossible to visualize and enjoy all at once. It has works by renowned intellectuals and artists such as the researcher Natalia Bolívar, who exhibited her voodoo dolls in a glass case called "Five Spirits." You can see an installation with ashes of human corpses, by Iván Perera, from his series Immanents. Digital impressions of Álvaro José Brunet, Susan Bank, Rodney Batista also join the show together with works by Javier Alejandro Bobadilla Díaz, José Bedia and Juan Francisco Elso Padilla. A video installation by Tania Bruguera is exhibited that records the petition to the Pope to support the immigrant and undocumented community to apply for the 2014 Vatican City citizenship. You can also see an interesting photograph of the Colón Cemetery, in silver on gelatin, by Pedro Abascal from 1983. From Santiago Rodríguez Olazábal, recognized for addressing religious themes in his work, there is a large-format card: "Evil entered him from below." A video-projection of Marta María Pérez Bravo is included, one of the most spiritual pieces, without a doubt. The installation "EPD" by José Ángel Vincench: gold dust on sheets and candles and a painting from the 2010 Manuel Mendive National Prize for Plastic Arts, are other main attractions of the selection. The Canadian duo The Fastwurms (Kim Kozzi and Dai Skuse), with their medieval witch costumes, including a conical hat, arrived with their "Love is Law" installation of varying dimensions: a large spider web made of black bras. Also memorable is “Incompetent King” by Hugo Consuegra, ink and pen on cardboard (1959), and Roberto Diago's work, “Motivo de bosque”, a mixed technique on masonite from 1993, of great vitality and expression as much of his work. Espacio Aglutinador will continue to exhibit genuine and transgressive art as an “emergency room” and autonomous plaza for the promotion and development of Visual Arts, as its founder explains: “This exhibition gives continuity to the work of our non-exclusive space to disseminate the witchcraft of the world, from the dawn of humanity to the present day, passing through the traditions, religions, spells, enchantments, and philosophies of various places and historical moments. As has already been demonstrated on other occasions, Aglutinador is always renewing itself to create alternative projects to its alternativeness ”, concluded Sandra. PREVIOUS NEWS NEXT NEWS

SOLO EXHIBITIONS Couturier Gallery, Los Angeles, California, United States March 10, 1998 Desasosiego / Restlessness Read more Church of St. Barbara, Breining, Germany November 7, 1995 Unterstütze mich, halte mich hoch, im Schmerz. Belkis Ayón / Hold me in pain Read more Servando Cabrera Moreno Art Gallery December, 1988 Proposal at age 20 Read more return to personal exhibitions

HOLD ME IN PAIN Unterstütze mich, halte mich hoch, im Schmerz. Belkis Ayón / Hold me in pain Kirche St. Barbara, Breinig, Germany November, 1995 Curators: Helmo Hernández, Ludwig Foundation of Cuba Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Becker, Ludwig Forum Aachen Words to the catalog: “Among the artists who develop the theme of God in their paintings. We are passionate about Belkis Ayón for several reasons. She comes from Cuba, and the native population of Africa on this island has achieved in Santeria a special mixture of Christian icons with the orishas of the Yoruba religions. The fact that Belkis Ayón deals with these issues makes her an artist who began in the 80s when a new perspective on religions and their importance for the lives of mankind emerged throughout the world. And in the socialist state of Cuba, this occupation has a meaning: the contradiction assumed with the religious members of the Party enriches the political practice. Belkis Ayón is a draftsman, and a printmaker with precision, subtlety, and perfection rarely seen. And yet that desire for perfection is not put at the service of the search for any beauty, but for a respectful contradiction in works full of concerns and dignity ”(Wolfgang Becker, in Belkis Ayón, Halte mich hoch… (Breining, 1995).

NKAME: A RETROSPECTIVE OF THE CUBAN PRINTMAKER BELKIS AYÓN (1967-1999) Station Museum of Contemporary Art, Houston, Texas, United States June 2 - September 3, 2018 After the successful presentations in different cities of the United States, the exhibition Nkame. A Retrospective of the Cuban printmaker Belkis Ayón (1967-1999), arrives at the Station Museum in Houston, Texas. The exhibition was inaugurated on the night of June 2 in an atmosphere full of friends, excellent music, and lovers of good art. The masterful curatorship of Cristina Vives, stood out on this occasion thanks to a curatorial idea that was brought to life, thanks to the efforts of the Museum staff and its Director James Harritas: many of the large-format works gained three-dimensionality when placed on individual walls, specially built for each piece, resulting in a very positive visual impact, as the pieces obtain an unprecedented monumentality. In addition, this exhibition will feature a book/catalog that will cover the exhibition and the life and work of Belkis Ayón, entitled Behind the veil of a myth . Produced by the Station Museum and the Belkis Ayón Estate, with texts by Cristina Vives and design by Laura Llópiz. The exhibition will be open to the public until September 3, 2018. Photographs: Ernesto León and Yadira Leyva Ayón

BELKIS AYÓN: EARLY WORK Arthur Ross Gallery, University of Pennsylvania . . September, 2003 Text to the catalog: Rosemary Branson Gill. The sponsors: Massachusetts College of Art Massachusetts Cultural Council Spire Belkis Ayón. Early works, is sponsored by Alex Rosenberg Fine Art, New York. Exhibition and reception presented in conjunction with Revolution and Representation: An International Conference on Contemporary Printmaking. This exhibition was presented at: 2003-2004 Resurrection. Belkis Ayón (1967-1999) Collographs from Cuba, Massachusetts College of Art, Arthur Ross Gallery, University of Pennsylvania and Brandywine Workshop, October 11-January 4, 2004, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Co-sponsored by: Romance Languages Department Latin American Women and Culture Studies Program Center for African Studies, University of Pennsylvania With the support of the Department of Religious Studies, Department of Arts, Center for African American Research, House of Latin and African Studies. Collaboration with the Brandywine Workshop and Alex Rosenberg Fine Art, New York.

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

FEBRUARY, 2020: NKAME ARRIVES AT THE CHICAGO CULTURAL CENTER January 2020 Yadira Leyva Ayón © Belkis Ayón Estate 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. A project developed by this prestigious institution and the Belkis Ayón Estate, Havana, Cuba. The exhibition is curated by Cristina Vives. Tour Management by Landau Traveling Exhibitions, Los Angeles, CA. PREVIOUS NEWS NEXT NEWS