Pacita Abad Bacongo VIII Blanket

Vividly colorful and uniquely contemporary, this limited-edition merino blanket features Pacita Abad’s painting Bacongo VIII (1988). Crafted in India by Janavi India, a brand inspired by nature, love, beauty, and energy, this exclusive textile was produced by the Walker Art Center in con-junction with the first-ever retrospective of Abad’s work. The exhibition Pacita Abad celebrates the visionary practice of an artist who had, in her own words, “one million things to say.”

The image is part of Abad’s series of large-scale masks titled Bacongo, referencing the central African region that now comprises the Republic of the Congo and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Her Bacongo works resemble the 19th- and 20th-century bifwebe face masks of the Songye and Luba peoples, who wore them in spiritual ceremonies. The artist’s paintings, standing over 8 feet tall, flatten and extend the rounded forms of these masks into high-frequency fields of color.

Bacongo VIII an example of Abad’s hybrid art form called “trapunto” painting (from the Italian word trapungere, meaning “to embroider”). Her technique involved hand-stitching, stuffing, and embellishing her intricately painted canvases to create dimensional, tactile surfaces. During her lifetime, the artist traveled to more than 60 countries and made a body of work based on global masking traditions. To Abad, masks rep-resented the dual nature of “who you are now, and what you can be.”

Produced by the Walker Art Center, crafted by Janavi India
Material: 100% Merino Wool
Size: 50 x 80 in.
Featured Artwork: Bacongo VIII, 1988. Pacita Abad. Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; Butler Family and Clinton Della Walker Acquisition Funds, 2022.

Please note each blanket is handmade to order with a 4-6 week production lead time.