Belkis Ayón: Sikán Illuminations October 5, 2024 - January 26, 2025 MODERN ART OXFORD Sikán Illuminations examines Cuban artist Belkin Ayón’s (1967 – 1999) brief but intense artistic career. Using a printmaking process called collography, she used her exceptional technical skills and innovative use of this method to produce richly detailed and enigmatic artworks which recreate the cultural and spiritual world of the Abakuá. The Abakuá secret society, a predominantly black male Cuban religious group originating in the tribes and ritual traditions of West Africa, served as a lifelong source of inspiration for Ayón. Ayon explored the heritage of the Abakuá by focusing on the mythical female figure of Sikán. Ayón reinterprets the origin story of the Abakuá by making visible the emotions and struggles of Sikán in her imagery and combines it with her own ideas and experiences of life as a black Cuban woman. Ayón’s work defies societal norms and creates space for imagining alternative possibilities for spirituality and gender equality. Telling ancient stories in new ways, these artworks create a radical new mythology capable of amending the past and altering the future. Belkis Ayón was one of the most prominent figures of 20th Century Cuban art and Sikán Illuminations is the first major survey exhibition of Ayón’s work in a UK institution. The exhibition consists of 50 works belonging to the Belkis Ayón Estate based in Havana and is curated by Corina Matamoros and Sandra García Herrera.

Sikán’s image is paramount in all these works because like myself, she led and leads –through me- , a disquieting life, looking insistently for a way out Belkis Ayón, January, 1998 Belkis Ayón Manso (1967-1999) Printmaker, drawer , curator, teacher The Artist Havana, January 23, 1967 - September 11, 1999 STUDIES • 1979-1982 Elementary School of Plastic Arts "20 de Octubre", Havana. • 1982-1986 San Alejandro Academy, Havana. Printmaking teachers: Pablo Borges, Carlos A. García and Ángel Ramírez. • 1986-1991 Bachelor of Art in Printmaking, Art Superior Institute (ISA), Havana. Printmaking teachers: Luis Cabrera, Luis Lara, Rolando Rojas and Pablo Borges. ARTIST'S RESIDENCES • 1999 Brandywine Workshop, Center for the Visual Arts Cuba Project, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. • 1999 The Tyler School of Art, Temple University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. • 1999 Bronski Center, Philadelphia College of Art, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. • 1999 Bensen Hall Gallery, Rhode Island School of Design, Rhode Island, United States. MAIN COLLECTIONS pe rsonal exhibitions collective exhibitions

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.

Exposiciones personales de Belkis Ayón (1967-1999) SOLO EXHIBITIONS Barker Gallery at the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, Eugene, Oregon, United States. February 6, - September 5, 2021 Nkame : A Retrospective of the Cuban printmaker Belkis Ayón (1967-1999) Read more Chicago Cultural Center, Chicago, Illinois, United States. February 29, 2020 Read more Nkame : A Retrospective of the Cuban printmaker Belkis Ayón (1967-1999) Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, Arizona, United States. October 13, 2018 - January 20, 2019 Nkame : A Retrospective of the Cuban printmaker Belkis Ayón (1967-1999) Read more Station Museum of Contemporary Art, Houston, Texas, United States June 2, - September 3, 2018 Nkame : A Retrospective of the Cuban printmaker Belkis Ayón (1967-1999) After the successful presentations in different cities of the United States while traveling through this country, the exhibition Nkame. A retrospective of the Cuban engraver Belkis Ayón (1967-1999), arrives at the Station Museum in Houston, Texas. The exhibition (...) Read more Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City, Missouri, United States January 25 - April 29, 2018 Nkame : A Retrospective of the Cuban printmaker Belkis Ayón (1967-1999) Read more Museo del Barrio, New York, United States June 13 - November 5, 2017 Nkame : A Retrospective of the Cuban printmaker Belkis Ayón (1967-1999) Read more NEXT

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

CONFLUENCES INSIDE Havana, Mexico, United States, Portugal November 2006 - 2010 Cubarte Newsletter Year 7 Number 25, June 20, 2007 Exhibition "Confluencias" is presented in Mexico By: Nelson Herrera Ysla The exhibition "Confluencias", with works by 26 Cuban artists of various generations, has been inaugurated at the Museum of Modern Art of Toluca, of the Mexiquense Institute of Culture, after their presentations at the Clavijero Palace of the City of Morelia (where the idea for the project arose thanks to the enthusiasm of the Constitutional Governor of the State of Michoacán, Mr. Lázaro Cárdenas Batel) and at the José Luis Cuevas Museum in the Federal District. The exhibition, curated by Juan Delgado, had the advice of Elvia Rosa Castro, and an excellent catalog designed by the Cuban team Baus Diseño, printed in large format in Mexico. It brings together more than 70 works, mainly in painting as well as drawing, printmaking, photography, sculpture and video by some of the most notable Cuban artists, from Alfredo Sosabravo and Manuel Mendive to Alain Pino, the youngest. Participating in it: Roberto Fabelo , Nelson Domínguez , Arturo Montoto, Belkis Ayón, Eduardo Roca , Ernesto Rancaño, Flora Fong, José A. Toirac, Lester Campa, Los Carpinteros, Luis Gómez, Pedro Pablo Oliva , Rigoberto Mena, Roberto Diago, Rubén Rodríguez, Santiago Rodríguez Olazábal, Zaida del Río , Carlos Quintana, Aymée García, Carlos Montes de Oca, Eduardo Ponjuán, Alexis Leyva (Kcho), Agustín Bejarano. Unfolded in over 400 square meters, the exhibition offers a synthetic panorama of recent productions of Cuban visuality where the two dimensions stand out from the rest, and in which it is possible to appreciate the strength of painting in our country, a phenomenon that today begins to gain notoriety in events and fairs around the world. The large format of the works and the balance between various modes of expression contribute to their interest in the artistic and communication media as well as in the Mexican public: these allow us to reflect on Cuban visual arts and inform about our culture of the image in constant process of expansion. The inauguration was attended by Mr. Agustín Gasca Pliego, General Director of IMexC, Lic. Vivian Martínez Tabares, Cultural Counselor of the Cuban Embassy in that country, Laura Castañedo, Artistic Secretary of Ars Latina 2007 and Cuban artists invited to participate in this project that will take place during the month of June in Baja California. Also present were the curator of the exhibition Juan Delgado, the art critic Nelson Herrera Ysla and the artist Arturo Montoto. So much interest has aroused "Confluencias", whose original project was limited only to the city of Morelia, and today their presentations in the states of Tabasco and Guanajuato for this year 2007 are in the process of being coordinated. Source: CUBARTE Participating artists: Agustín Bejarano, Aimée García, Alain Pino, Alexis Leyva (KCHO), Alfredo Sosabravo, Arturo Montoto, Belkis Ayón, Carlos Montes de Oca, Carlos Quintana, Eduardo Ponjuán, Eduardo Roca (CHOCO), Ernesto Rancaño, Flora Fong, José A, Toirac, Lester Campa, Los Carpinteros, Luis Gómez, Manuel Mendive, Nelson Domínguez, Pedro Pablo Oliva, Rigoberto Mena, Roberto Diago, Roberto Fabelo, Rubén Rodríguez, Santiago Rodríguez Olazábal, Zaida del Río.

NKAME: A RETROSPECTIVE OF THE CUBAN PRINTMAKER BELKIS AYÓN (1967-1999) Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, Scottsdale, Arizona, United States October 13, 2018 - January 20, 2019 The traveling exhibition Nkame: a Retrospective of the Cuban Printmaker Belkis Ayón (1967-1999) was inaugurated on October 13, 2018, at its fifth venue, the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art. A project organized by this prestigious institution and the Belkis Ayón Estate, Havana Cuba. The exhibition is curated by Cristina Vives. Exhibition Tour Management by Landau Traveling Exhibitions, Los Angeles, CA. Photographs: Courtesy of the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art For more information, visit the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art website

NKAME ARRIVES AT THE STATION MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART IN HOUSTON, TEXAS July 31st, 2018 Yadira Leyva Ayón © Belkis Ayón Estate 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. The exhibition was inaugurated on the night of June 2nd 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 reality, thanks to the efforts of the Museum staff and its Director James Harritas: many of the large-format works obtained three-dimensionality when placed on walls, specially built for each piece, resulting in a very positive visual impact, with the pieces obtaining an unprecedented monumentality. In addition, this exhibition will feature a book/catalog on the exhibition and the life and work of Belkis Ayón, entitled Behind del veil de un 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. PREVIOUS NEWS NEXT NEWS

NKAME: A RETROSPECTIVE OF THE CUBAN PRINTMAKER BELKIS AYÓN (1967-1999) Chicago Cultural Center, Chicago, Illinois, United States February 29, 2020 The traveling exhibition Nkame: A Retrospective of the Cuban Printmaker Belkis Ayón (1967-1999) was inaugurated on February 29, 2020, at its sixth venue, the Chicago Cultural Center. A project organized by this prestigious institution and the Belkis Ayón Estate, Havana, Cuba. The exhibition is curated by Cristina Vives. Exhibition Tour Management by Landau Traveling Exhibitions, Los Angeles, CA.

PALMA DIGITAL AWARD 2015 GRANTED TO THE WEBSITE OF THE ARTIST BELKIS AYÓN November 14, 2015 Yadira Leyva Ayón © Belkis Ayón Estate The team made up of the Belkis Ayón Estate and CarDanSoft, creators of the website of the artist Belkis Ayón, received Friday morning, November 13, the 2015 Palma Digital Prize awarded by CUBARTE, in the category of Personal sites and blogs from cultural profile. PREVIOUS NEWS NEXT NEWS

THE AYÓN ESPACE The Ayón Space, the original idea of Dr. Katia Ayón, Belkis Ayón Estate, was a project presented to Cuban cultural institutions in 2004, on the fifth anniversary of the artist's physical disappearance. It was conceived as a permanent space for the exhibition and conservation of Belkis's graphic work and as a place for promotion and support for young printmakers, one of the missions assumed by Belkis Ayón from her position as an exceptional pedagogue. Numerous artists and intellectuals, especially Antonio Martorell and Humberto Figueroa, supported the initiative, which is still waiting for its materialization, and argued, from different perspectives, the need to found it. Goals: • Permanently display the artist's work. • Promote the work of young artists whose main line of work is printmaking. • Offer summer workshops to young national and foreign artists. • Establish the BELKIS AYÓN National Contest of Collography that allows the participation of young and established artists, of national and international character, in collaboration with other art institutions. • Establish links with the community near the place to integrate it into the public activities of the space. • That they can access the valuable and vast bibliography, property of the artist Belkis Ayón: students, ethnographers, sociologists, anthropologists, artists, historians, and teachers.

Exhibiciones personales y colectivas de la grabadora cubana Belkis Ayón (1967-1999). EXHIBITIONS PE RSONAL EXHIBITIONS COLLECTIVE EXHIBITIO NS