Nlloro

1991

Not on view

Nlloro is a multipart work comprising nine sheets united into a single composition. The work is a collagraph—a type of print in which everyday materials are affixed to a rigid substrate to create the printing plate—a less conventional printmaking process favored by artist Belkis Ayón. She built a body of work around her personal interpretation of and interest in the Afro-Cuban religion Abakuá: a secret, male-only religious brotherhood that is culturally significant in Cuba but for which little visual imagery exists. In Nlloro, which translates to "weeping," Ayón depicts a funerary scene with the white, silhouetted figure representing a deceased Abakuá, or member of the religious brotherhood. The work unites multiple figures, printed surfaces, and sheets to defy a seamlessly unified composition and underscore the importance of formal and technical experimentation to the artist’s invented visual record of the Abakuá.

Artwork Details

Overview

Provenance

References

Title: Nlloro
Artist: Belkis Ayón (Cuban, Havana 1972–1999 Havana)
Date: 1991
Medium: Collagraph
Dimensions: 85 in. × 9 ft. 10 in. (215.9 × 299.7 cm)
Classification: Works on Paper
Credit Line: Purchase, Dudley and Michael Del Balso Gift, 2025
Object Number: 2025.103a–i
Rights and Reproduction: © Belkis Ayón Estate
Curatorial Department: Modern and Contemporary Art

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