El Baquine (Zape! Zape!)

José R Alicea

This woodblock was done around 1962 on a sheet of paper that has small pieces of bark embedded. In 1969 Jose Alicea created a portfolio of works titled “El Baquine,” illustrating the Puerto Rican ceremony of the same name with roots in both indigenous Puerto Rican and African religions, honoring the death of a child through celebrations that included song, dance, and storytelling.

This image of a masked figure in a cloak and headdress was used in Alicea’s third image for the “El Baquine” portfolio, titled “Zape! Zape!”, meaning “Shoo! Shoo!”, and was printed in red at the top half of a composition that also featured the black and white image of grieving parents, as if to illustrate a god or spirit banishing grief from their hearts. This woodcut was likely made some years earlier and is printed alone on a speckled paper.

You can learn more about the portfolio at: https://josealiceaeningles.weebly.com/el-baquineacute.html.