Ana Mendieta
Encyclopedia
Ana Mendieta was a Cuban American performance art
ist, sculptor, painter and video artist who is known for her "earth-body" art work.
Mendieta was born in Havana
, Cuba
. At age 12, in order to escape Fidel Castro's regime, Ana and her sister Raquelin were sent to the United States
by their parents. Through Operation Peter Pan
, a collaborative program run by the U.S. Government and the Catholic Charities
, Mendieta and her sister were moved through several institutions and foster homes in Iowa
.
where she earned a BA, an MA in Painting and an MFA in Intermedia
. Through the course of her career, she created work in Cuba
, Mexico
, Italy
, and the United States.
, violence, life, death, place and belonging. Mendieta often focused on a spiritual and physical connection with the Earth, most particularly in her "Silueta Series" (1973–1980). The series involved Mendieta creating female silhouettes in nature - in mud, sand and grass - with natural materials ranging from leaves and twigs to blood, and making body prints or painting her outline or silhouette
onto a wall.
In 1983 Mendieta was awarded the Rome Prize
from the American Academy in Rome. While in residence in Rome, Italy, Mendieta began creating art "objects," including drawings and sculptures. She continued to use natural elements in her work.
Ana Mendieta died on September 8, 1985 in New York
from a fall from her 34th floor apartment in Greenwich Village
, where she lived with her husband of eight months, minimalist sculptor Carl Andre
. Andre was tried and acquitted of her murder. During the trial, Andre's lawyer described Mendieta's death as a possible accident or suicide
. The cause of her death may never be known.
Ana Mendieta's estate is managed by the Galerie Lelong in New York City.
"My art is the way I reestablish the bonds that unite me to the universe." - Ana Mendieta, from the article "Ana Mendieta Plants," written by Judith Wilson and published in the Village Voice in 1980.
Varying accounts of her death suggest that she had either committed suicide during an enraged fight with her husband, sculptor Carl Andre, or that he had pushed her out of the window of their 34th floor apartment. Although Andre was ultimately acquitted by a judge, there are lingering doubts about his involvement.
and body art were being explored by an influx of performance artists. Mendieta was possibly the first to combine the two in what she coined as "earth-body" sculptures (Jacob 1999, p. 3). She often used her naked body to explore and connect with the Earth, as seen in her piece Imagen de Yagul, from the series Silueta Works in Mexico 1973-1977.
Mendieta also created the female silhouette using nature as both her canvas and her medium. She used her body to create silhouettes in grass; she created silhouettes in sand and dirt; she created silhouettes of fire and filmed them burning. Through these works, which cross the boundaries of performance, film and photography, Mendieta explored her relationship with place as well as a larger relationship with mother Earth or the "Great Goddess" figure (Blocker 1999, p. 47-48).
Mary Jane Jacob suggests in her book Ana Mendieta: The "Silueta" Series (1973-1980) that much of Mendieta's work was influenced by her interest in the religion Santería
, as well as a connection to Cuba (Jacob 1991, p. 4). Jacob attributes Mendieta's "ritualistic use of blood" (Jacob 1991, p. 10) and the use of gunpowder, earth and rock to Santería's ritualistic traditions (Jacob 1991, p. 17).
Jacob also points out the significance of the mother figure, referring to the Mayan deity Ix Chel, the mother of the Gods (Jacob 1991, p. 14). Many have interpreted Mendieta's recurring use of this mother figure, and her own female silhouette, as feminist art. However, because Mendieta's work explores many ideas including life, death, identity and place all at once, it cannot be categorized as part of one idea or movement.
Mendieta returned to Havana, Cuba, the place of her birth birth for this project, but she was still exploring her sense of displacement and loss, according to Clearwater (Clearwater 1993, p. 18). The "Rupestrian Sculptures" that Mendieta created were also influenced by the Tainan people, "native inhabitants of the pre-hispanic Antilles," which Mendieta became fascinated by and studied (Clearwater 1993, p. 12).
Mendieta had completed five photo-etchings of the "Rupestrian Sculptures" before she died in 1985. The book Ana Mendieta: A Book of Works, published in 1993, contains both photographs of the sculptures as well as Mendieta's notes on the project (Clearwater 1993, p. 20).
Performance art
In art, performance art is a performance presented to an audience, traditionally interdisciplinary. Performance may be either scripted or unscripted, random or carefully orchestrated; spontaneous or otherwise carefully planned with or without audience participation. The performance can be live or...
ist, sculptor, painter and video artist who is known for her "earth-body" art work.
Mendieta was born in Havana
Havana
Havana is the capital city, province, major port, and leading commercial centre of Cuba. The city proper has a population of 2.1 million inhabitants, and it spans a total of — making it the largest city in the Caribbean region, and the most populous...
, Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
. At age 12, in order to escape Fidel Castro's regime, Ana and her sister Raquelin were sent to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
by their parents. Through Operation Peter Pan
Operation Peter Pan
Operation Peter Pan , was an operation coordinated by the United States government , the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Miami, and certain Cubans. Between 1960 and 1962, over 14,000 children were sent from Cuba to Miami by their parents...
, a collaborative program run by the U.S. Government and the Catholic Charities
Catholic Charities
Catholic Charities is a network of charities whose aim is "to provide service to people in need, to advocate for justice in social structures, and to call the entire church and other people of good will to do the same." It is one of the largest charities in the United States...
, Mendieta and her sister were moved through several institutions and foster homes in Iowa
Iowa
Iowa is a state located in the Midwestern United States, an area often referred to as the "American Heartland". It derives its name from the Ioway people, one of the many American Indian tribes that occupied the state at the time of European exploration. Iowa was a part of the French colony of New...
.
Education
Mendieta attended the University of IowaUniversity of Iowa
The University of Iowa is a public state-supported research university located in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. It is the oldest public university in the state. The university is organized into eleven colleges granting undergraduate, graduate, and professional degrees...
where she earned a BA, an MA in Painting and an MFA in Intermedia
Intermedia
Intermedia was a concept employed in the mid-sixties by Fluxus artist Dick Higgins to describe the ineffable, often confusing, inter-disciplinary activities that occur between genres that became prevalent in the 1960s. Thus, the areas such as those between drawing and poetry, or between painting...
. Through the course of her career, she created work in Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
, Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, and the United States.
Life and Work
Mendieta's work was in its essence autobiographical and focused on themes including feminismFeminism
Feminism is a collection of movements aimed at defining, establishing, and defending equal political, economic, and social rights and equal opportunities for women. Its concepts overlap with those of women's rights...
, violence, life, death, place and belonging. Mendieta often focused on a spiritual and physical connection with the Earth, most particularly in her "Silueta Series" (1973–1980). The series involved Mendieta creating female silhouettes in nature - in mud, sand and grass - with natural materials ranging from leaves and twigs to blood, and making body prints or painting her outline or silhouette
Silhouette
A silhouette is the image of a person, an object or scene consisting of the outline and a basically featureless interior, with the silhouetted object usually being black. Although the art form has been popular since the mid-18th century, the term “silhouette” was seldom used until the early decades...
onto a wall.
In 1983 Mendieta was awarded the Rome Prize
Rome Prize
The Rome Prize is an American award made annually by the American Academy in Rome, through a national competition, to 15 emerging artists and to 15 scholars The Rome Prize is an American award made annually by the American Academy in Rome, through a national competition, to 15 emerging artists...
from the American Academy in Rome. While in residence in Rome, Italy, Mendieta began creating art "objects," including drawings and sculptures. She continued to use natural elements in her work.
Ana Mendieta died on September 8, 1985 in New York
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
from a fall from her 34th floor apartment in Greenwich Village
Greenwich Village
Greenwich Village, , , , .in New York often simply called "the Village", is a largely residential neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City. A large majority of the district is home to upper middle class families...
, where she lived with her husband of eight months, minimalist sculptor Carl Andre
Carl Andre
Carl Andre is an American minimalist artist recognized for his ordered linear format and grid format sculptures. His sculptures range from large public artworks to more intimate tile patterns arranged on the floor of an exhibition space Carl Andre (born September 16, 1935) is an American...
. Andre was tried and acquitted of her murder. During the trial, Andre's lawyer described Mendieta's death as a possible accident or suicide
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
. The cause of her death may never be known.
Ana Mendieta's estate is managed by the Galerie Lelong in New York City.
"My art is the way I reestablish the bonds that unite me to the universe." - Ana Mendieta, from the article "Ana Mendieta Plants," written by Judith Wilson and published in the Village Voice in 1980.
Death
Mendieta fell to her death from a bedroom window after an argument with Mr. Andre, who later told the police he was not in the room when she fell.Varying accounts of her death suggest that she had either committed suicide during an enraged fight with her husband, sculptor Carl Andre, or that he had pushed her out of the window of their 34th floor apartment. Although Andre was ultimately acquitted by a judge, there are lingering doubts about his involvement.
Silueta Series (1973-1980)
When Ana Mendieta began her "Silueta Series" in the 1970s, both land artLand art
Land art, Earthworks , or Earth art is an art movement which emerged in the United States in the late 1960s and early 1970s, in which landscape and the work of art are inextricably linked...
and body art were being explored by an influx of performance artists. Mendieta was possibly the first to combine the two in what she coined as "earth-body" sculptures (Jacob 1999, p. 3). She often used her naked body to explore and connect with the Earth, as seen in her piece Imagen de Yagul, from the series Silueta Works in Mexico 1973-1977.
Mendieta also created the female silhouette using nature as both her canvas and her medium. She used her body to create silhouettes in grass; she created silhouettes in sand and dirt; she created silhouettes of fire and filmed them burning. Through these works, which cross the boundaries of performance, film and photography, Mendieta explored her relationship with place as well as a larger relationship with mother Earth or the "Great Goddess" figure (Blocker 1999, p. 47-48).
Mary Jane Jacob suggests in her book Ana Mendieta: The "Silueta" Series (1973-1980) that much of Mendieta's work was influenced by her interest in the religion Santería
Santería
Santería is a syncretic religion of West African and Caribbean origin influenced by Roman Catholic Christianity, also known as Regla de Ocha, La Regla Lucumi, or Lukumi. Its liturgical language, a dialect of Yoruba, is also known as Lucumi....
, as well as a connection to Cuba (Jacob 1991, p. 4). Jacob attributes Mendieta's "ritualistic use of blood" (Jacob 1991, p. 10) and the use of gunpowder, earth and rock to Santería's ritualistic traditions (Jacob 1991, p. 17).
Jacob also points out the significance of the mother figure, referring to the Mayan deity Ix Chel, the mother of the Gods (Jacob 1991, p. 14). Many have interpreted Mendieta's recurring use of this mother figure, and her own female silhouette, as feminist art. However, because Mendieta's work explores many ideas including life, death, identity and place all at once, it cannot be categorized as part of one idea or movement.
Photo Etchings of the Rupestrian Sculptures
As documented in the book Ana Mendieta: A Book of Works, edited by Bonnie Clearwater, before her death, Ana Mendieta was working on a series of photo-etchings of cave sculptures she had created at Escaleras de Jaruco, Jaruco State Park in Havana, Cuba (Clearwater 1993, p. 11). Her sculptures were entitled "Rupestrian Sculptures" and the book of photographic etchings that Mendieta was creating to preserve these sculptures is a testament to the intertextuality of Mendieta's work. Clearwater explains how the photographs of Mendieta's sculptures were often as important as the piece they were documenting because the nature of Mendieta's work was so impermanent. Mendieta spent as much time and thought on the creation of the photographs as she did on the sculptures themselves (Clearwater 1993, p. 11).Mendieta returned to Havana, Cuba, the place of her birth birth for this project, but she was still exploring her sense of displacement and loss, according to Clearwater (Clearwater 1993, p. 18). The "Rupestrian Sculptures" that Mendieta created were also influenced by the Tainan people, "native inhabitants of the pre-hispanic Antilles," which Mendieta became fascinated by and studied (Clearwater 1993, p. 12).
Mendieta had completed five photo-etchings of the "Rupestrian Sculptures" before she died in 1985. The book Ana Mendieta: A Book of Works, published in 1993, contains both photographs of the sculptures as well as Mendieta's notes on the project (Clearwater 1993, p. 20).
External links
- Galerie Lelong site - for images and artist's CV
- Information on 2004 traveling retrospective presented by the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden
- Las huellas de Ana Mendieta por Gretel Herrera, Fundación Cultural Enrique Loynaz, Santo Domingo
- The Smithsonian Institution's Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden biography of Ana Mendieta with images of her work
- The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, "Making Sense of Modern Art"