Schneider Museum of Art
The works of Belkis Ayon in the
Intimate Revelations exhibition
Intolerancia, 1998 by Belkis Ayon
Intimate Revelations
International Women's Exhibition (continued: Page 2)
Belkis Ayon
Born in Havana, Cuba in 1967, Belkis Ayon studied at and graduated from, the Instituto Superior de Arte in Havana where she eventually taught as a member of the fine art faculty.
Collography was her favorite technique while the predominant subject matter of her work was heavily influenced by her investigations into the “Abukua Secret Society” - an all male organization of Afro-Cuban origin founded in Cuba in the 1830’s.
She remembered that in 1977, having been asked for a title for her upcoming exhibition in Los Angeles, she tried to find it in the context of the work:
I thought about the works I had finished and wondered what feeling they all had in common, even though the theme, the general style of the whole body of work done over the years has been consistent – I associated it with what I had been feeling during the last few months – a Restlessness (Disasosiemento) something that unconsciously began to appear in my work. Thus the title for the exhibition became – Disasosiemento.
The artist also spoke about the nature of her imagery:
I aspire above all to give my vision, my point of view as observer, presenting as a synthesized form the aesthetic, plastic and poetic aspects I discovered in Abukua, persistently relating them to the nature of man, with vivid personalities, with feelings which sometimes grip us, feelings we don’t know how to define, with these fugitive emotions…with the spiritual. I incorporate into my work symbols from other cultures to express my ideas with better richness and clarity. I incorporate into my work personalities like the Leopard Man, a figure identified with imposing power and aggression, a macho who sacrificed Sikan the woman who discovered the secret (of Abukan)and died at the hands of the men at the altar so that the secret would remain among them and not disappear. The secret consisted of a voice, the Sacred Voice produced by the Fish discovered by Sikan coming back from the river. The Fish was the reincarnation of Old Obon Tanze, from Abasi the Supreme God. The transmission of the sacred voice was finally transmitted to the skin of a goat which vibrated on the sacred drum EHU’e. My images are realized in collography, an engraving technique that consists of a type of collage formed from a wide variety of materials arranged and pasted on a cardboard support.
The image of Sikan is evident in all these works because she, like me, lived and lives, through me, in restlessness, looking insistently for a way out.
These words were written by Belkis Ayon in January 1998 in Havana, Cuba as a statement before her Los Angeles exhibition at the Couturier Gallery, March 6 to April 11, 1998.
Belkis Ayon committed suicide on September 11, 1999.
More Intimate Revelations:
Pg. 1: Yolanda Andrade Pg. 3: Christel Dillbohner
Pg. 4: Mari Omori/Maritta Tapanainen
Pg. 5: Kyung Sun Cho/Theodora Varney Jones/Echiko Ohira
Pg. 6: Sosa Joseph Pg. 7: Younhee Paik
