ATALANTE/ GUARDAR SILENCIO PARA QUE SE OIGAN LOS GOLPES, woodcut, Irving Herrera 2009

A silent sentinel carved in ink — Herrera’s most enigmatic luchadora listens through scars, not speech.

In GUARDAR SILENCIO PARA QUE SE OIGAN LOS GOLPES, Irving Herrera distills the voice of resistance into its most radical form: silence. The masked figure, head tilted back in a rictus of toothy laughter or pain, is adorned with amulets, bones, hearts, initials, and claws. Her breasts are exposed like shields. Her skin, carved in Herrera’s fevered lines, reads like scripture.

This print marks a tonal shift in the series — less confrontation, more absorption. The dusty rose backdrop evokes bruised skin or dried petals. The surrounding inscription, now reduced to this title, is a vow: to hold back one’s own cry so that the blows — of others, of comrades, of guerreras — may echo louder.

Printed in Oaxaca in 2009, and forming part of a very limited edition of 10, this work brings ceremonial quiet into the arena. Its silence is not passive — it is a tactical act of witness.

Technical Sheet

• Object: Woodcut print (framed)
• Title: GUARDAR SILENCIO PARA QUE SE OIGAN LOS GOLPES
• Artist: Irving Herrera
• Date: 2009
• Technique / Printing Method: Woodcut with screen-printed background
• Medium / Materials: Black and dusty rose ink on cotton paper
• Edition: 5/10 
• Signed: Yes 
• Framing: Black wooden frame with glass
• Dimensions: 112 × 76 cm (sheet)
• Condition: Excellent
• Provenance: Direct from artist’s studio, Oaxaca