Centella, 90 x 60 inches, charcoal on Canson, 2025. Photo © Alian Rives' Studio

Centella draws from a powerful spiritual force in Palo associated with the cemetery and the threshold between life and death. The drawing approaches this figure through charcoal as a fragmented and semi-abstract presence rather than a literal representation. The accumulation and dissolution of the marks evoke wind, lightning, ash, and the unstable boundary between material and spiritual worlds.

Within my broader exploration of diasporic spirituality, Centella considers how spiritual entities transform as they move across cultural and geographic territories. The work draws on the syncretic relationships that emerged in Cuba between Palo and other religious traditions, while preserving the ambiguity produced by these encounters. The figure becomes fragmented and reassembled through charcoal, suggesting a spiritual identity that exists not as a fixed image but as a continually shifting hybrid.