This is an example of one of Centurión’s characteristic embroidered blankets (or frazadas). This grey blanket has a yellow border and at its centre, a square piece of fabric onto which the artist has embroidered the titular phrase. This work was selected for the 33rd São Paulo Bienal in 2019 which was curated by Gabriel Pérez-Barreiro. This was the artist’s first inclusion in Latin America’s longest-standing Bienal.

‘El cielo es mi protección’ is a demonstration of the attitude with which Centurión approached his illness with HIV/AIDS, and an example of the his calm acceptance of his mortality. His sister, Gloria, once described how her brother lived a very healthy lifestyle and practiced yoga; furthermore, she said that he did not take any medication following his diagnosis with HIV in 1992. Perhaps this was a conscious decision to avoid early HIV medications such as AZT and Zidovudine, which were both controversial and led to severe side-effects for some patients. In this way, Centurión adopted a more palliative approach to his illness, searching not for a miracle cure but rather for moments of joy that he found while exploring beauty, love and his faith. He wanted to seize agency over his illness, and his perception of it.