Marta Maria Perez Bravo

In 1964, the Nancy Sayles Day Collection of Modern Latin American Art was established at the RISD Museum as a family memorial. Over the past 36 years, Latin American material has continually been added to the collection through several sources. Mr. and Mrs. Barnet Fain, avid collectors of various media, have generously donated this work by Cuban-born artist Marta Maria Perez Bravo, who currently lives in Mexico. Bravo is one of several important Latin American photographers recently added to the RISD collection; others include Luis Gonzalez Palma and Geraldo Suter. Inspired by Afro­ Cuban religion, Bravo here transforms her body into an altar and ritually offers her hair in a sheet held as a vessel. The cultural significance of hair is a theme explored by Bravo and other contemporary Latin American and African American female artists.