Marta María Pérez Bravo's "Mbele" presents a stark, monumental close-up of a ceremonial knife or spearhead rooted in Palo Monte and Congo-derived Afro-Cuban traditions, isolated against an absolute black void in a high-contrast C-type print. The blade rises vertically with deliberate precision, its elongated, jagged form and weathered patina rendering the object almost anthropomorphic—scarred, textured, and endowed with a palpable presence that transcends mere materiality. This austere isolation transforms the implement into a powerful nkisi-like vessel, a conduit for ancestral forces that channel protection, intervention, and retribution through iron, blood, and ritual intent. The metallic gleam and irregular contours affirm the volatile spiritual energies embedded in such tools, where violence and sanctity coexist inseparably. Conceptually, the photograph asserts the dialectic inherent in ritual weaponry: the blade stands as a silent yet unequivocal emblem of gendered agency, cultural endurance, and resistance to historical erasure. By centering the object while implying the absent body through compositional absence, Pérez Bravo positions the ritual artifact as the locus of invocation and defiance. The work firmly interrogates the threshold between corporeal vulnerability and metaphysical potency, establishing the weapon as an unyielding sentinel of syncretic heritage, resilient against exile, marginalization, and the passage of time.