Untitled

Ayon created collagraphs with a signature visual language of a black-and-white palette, diverse textural details, and uncanny figures. The only features on her figures' faces are exaggeratedly large eyes, creating a sense of mystery. Women do not have mouths, she explained, as it was to represent their silence due to their absence from Abakua rituals. A range of textures and tones gives the impression of turbulence in contrast to the stillness of the figures. As Ayon noted, she was interested in "infusing the characters with something--that is, through texture, shape, they are not lacking without clothing. The clothing is the skin I give them, depending on whatever is happening, whatever I want to say." Ayon incorporated a range of references in her work including Abakua rituals and myths, images from art, literature, her own unconscious. Yet Ayon claimed her work had "more to do with life than with religion" in 1999, adding "I am mostly interested in questioning humanity, the fleeting feelings, the spirituality."