RAFA SANTOS

Basement Altar takes the form of a low, raised platform, across which a tapestry of drawings is spread, stretching forth across the floor. The drawings are executed in pencil, graphite, contée, and ink, resulting in a tone and texture recalling drawing exercises done in the studio on newsprint or in sketchbooks. The drawings are fashioned together seamlessly into a kind of tapestry or quilt: something familiar, personal, and handmade. The drawings contain a rich multitude of imagery, ranging from loosely rendered portraits, gestural figures in lively poses, to more abstract compositions of shape and form. Certain iconic images are particularly striking among the drawings, for instance : a hand reaching for (or perhaps extinguishing?) a cigarette in an ashtray, a handwritten note, and two crosses etched intently into the surface of the paper, flanking the left and right sides of the low platform. At first approach, the viewer is likely to gaze upon the altar from high above, finding the tapestry of drawings at the edges of their feet. However, the rich, intricate details in the drawing and mark-making demands a closer look. In this way, the viewer is asked to bring themselves into the installation, moving closer to the altar. As the eye travels from the base of the altar upwards, the viewer participates in an act of revelation in and of itself.

In this work, Santos is mobilizing a rich synthesis of personal, imaginative, and religiously specific iconography, through an artistic practice of automatic drawing. Looking closely, printed images of Anaisa Pye and Belie Belcan, syncretized as Saint Anne and Saint Michael respectively, are instantly recognizable to those familiar with Las 21 Divisiones, as they are widely celebrated and commonly appear side by side within the household.¹ In fact, much of the imagery that emerged through automatic drawing, such as the lively figures and the cigarette, are also aspects of the two Loas. In juxtaposition to the figural images from the artist’s memory and imagination, these printed images were taken from the internet, one of the only means by which Santos has access to their religious, spiritual, and familial roots. Here lies a central, underlying conflict explored in the work: what Santos describes as “degrees of separation,” a fundamental feeling of disconnect that arises as a biracial, nonbinary person under the effects of colonization.² Ultimately, the intuitive, unrestrained drawings that emerge automatically correspond to these different ‘realms’ of identity, spirituality, gender, and memory. The act of fashioning them together is a physical manifestation of the artist’s desire to reconcile and converge these divergent aspects of themselves.

At 2 a.m. in the studio, Santos experienced a sense of fulfillment and clarity upon the completion of this piece. In this sense, Basement Altar is a personal revelation on the artist’s part that is shared with the viewer in a moment of truth and vulnerability.

1. Hector Salva, “Misterios of las 21 divisiones/Dominican Voudou; Los Misterios or Spirits of Las 21 Divisiones,” accessed on July 30, 2021.
2. Rafa Santos in conversation with the author, August 2021.