Belkis Ayón: Sikán Illuminations - Modern Art Oxford - Review

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

The final of my three visits on December 19th, Modern Art Oxford have re-opened with a bold and discomforting barrage of collographs from Belkis Ayón. An artist I had not encountered before, and one I am unlikely to forget. 

It is worth noting that due to the circumstances of Ayón's life, this post must come with a trigger warning. That aside, the continuous intensity and single-minded pursuit of her subject of (to me at least) obsession left a strong impact. 

As a frequent visitor to the Modern Art Oxford in my teenage years (yes I am aware of how awful that reads), I accidentally encountered the exhibition back to front, not aware of the recent revamp of their ground floor and cafe area. In my defence, the building remains a bit of a maze, with the more obvious entry way to the upper floors still hidden behind a slightly dodgy feeling sliding door within their gift shop. The ground floor is lovely though. Congrats. 

But it is cold out and my bag is heavy, so I head up the back staircase into their incurably creaky-floored upper gallery. Since all of the explanatory text of Ayón, of her focus - the Abakuá myth, and her reinterpretation was the last thing I encountered, this review will follow much the same pattern. Alien forms staring down at me, depicting symbolisms and stories that I was not culturally equipped to translate or even relate to.

La Cena, image via Modern Art Oxford

The faces of Ayón's figures are devoid of expression, beyond their eyes, often wide and staring, sometimes closed and tearful. Large collagraphs, reminiscent of alterpieces, line the wall. One is in colour, the rest monochrome. Despite the lack of identifiable expression, each piece is imbued with such strong emotion that they are distinctly hard to spend too much time with. The pieces are named after states of being, such as Longing, or after scenes from an as of yet unexplained narrative, such as La Cena (The Supper). 

There is a real potency in the textures used within her creations. I infer, from the juxtaposed hangings of a relief and the final product, that the collograpic (or collagraphic - interchangeably) method involves constructing a textured relief, then printing it onto its final surface. Evidence of fabrics, of strange offcuts of metals, flesh out the spaces of her works. 

Creaking my way into the middle room, there is a documentary playing, illuminating the technique. The room has seating for two, both occupied, and I feel that if I take my backpack off, I will not be putting it back on again. So, much to my latter disappointment, I leave. 

So far, there has been one piece in colour, the rest monochromatic. What is startling about some of the images is the relative intensity of the white spaces. Eyes stare down unblinking. The effect is compounded by the sheer number and size of the works. The exhibition boasts 50 pieces of Ayón's work and is 'the first major survey exhibition of Ayón's work in a UK institution'. 

Image via L. Cumming, The Guardian  

Finally, the main room. Again, more altarpiece-esque works line the room. They do not crowd the space, and the white walls of the upper gallery play further into the potent monochromatism of the exhibition. Unsettled by the works, and in a state of non-understanding, disenfranchised in an interesting way by symbols and visual language that I do not speak, I make my way to the entry wall of text. 

It is split into two parts. One for Ayón, the other for the Abakuá myth. I learn of a Secret Society brought over from West Africa to Cuba. Their central myth being that, as a male-only order, when a woman - Sikán - discovers a sacred fish that grants the bearer divine voice, she is ritualistically sacrificed. Since Sikán's sacrifice could have silenced the divine voice, the subsequent sacrifice of a goat traps the voice in a sacred drum - Ekwe. This drum is central to subsequent Abakuá ceremonies. I would advise reading this write up by Modern Art Oxford, as it explains the myth much better than I. (https://modernartoxford.org.uk/blog/killed-for-a-secret-princess-sikan) 

Image via Modern Art Oxford

Ayón reframes the myth. The central figure in many of her works is Sikán. Imagery is explored through feminine bodies, and the recentralisation of the victim of the story in order to construct a new myth. Reconsidering the artworks I had seen, I could now begin to read into them this tale, and its importance for Ayón. 

Ayón themselves seemed an intense figure. Their sole focus on the Abakuá myth constructs an obsessive body of work. Born in 1967, Ayón was only 32 when she died in 1999. My suspicions were confirmed by her Wikipedia article; she died by suicide. In the year before her death she was quoted as saying: "These [works] are the things I have inside that I toss out because there are burdens with which you cannot live or drag along, ...Perhaps that is what my work is about — that after so many years, I realize the disquiet". 

Even before knowing of her life, her central theme, and her death, this gallery had a distinctly disquieting atmosphere. The works are powerful, irrespective of knowledge of their visual language, and to see them all together in such a manner is likewise a powerful experience. If the purpose of art is to stir emotions, Ayón is resoundingly successful. If it is to externalise the internal, again, nothing but success. 

This is a remarkable survey exhibition of a remarkable artist. The overwhelming nature of their repeated focus, the constant imagery of the Abakuá myth, is unavoidably effective. 

Belkis Ayón: Sikán Illuminations is on display at Modern Art Oxford between 2 November 2024 and 9 February 2025. 

Do not miss this one.  

★ ★ ★ ★ ★