ANA MENDIETA - TRIBUTE

Ana Mendieta – Siluetas de Alma (Soul Silhouettes)

Ana Mendieta (Cuba, 1948 – New York, 1985) has gained emblematic status in the feminist history of art, and her concise work over her brief life is characteristically idiosyncratic and emotionally loaded, holding the human body and its potential to achieve social change at its core. The pain of exile (Mendieta fled Cuba at a young age), the magical and religious rituals of her native country, the harsh attitude of a male-dominated society towards female sexuality, and violence were major influences on her evolution as an artist. The artist created a series (the Earth-Body works) that sit comfortably between performance and land art, highlighting the relationship between people and their environment, as well as the process by which they familiarise themselves with primary natural materials. Mendieta worked hard to explore the potential of the body, suggesting a symbolic return to the womb of earth, showcasing the deepest aspects of the spiritual but also physical relationship between man and mother-earth. In her work, earth and nature are treated as unrivalled materials and mediums, raised to the status of a magical driving force, where the concepts of fecundity, life and death are redefined. At the same time, the themes of relocation and alienation, identity and sexist ideologies and oppressive mechanisms are exorcised in order to achieve a universal transformation and reform of the arts and society.

 With the support of The Estate of Ana Mendieta Collection, LLC and Galerie Lelong & Co.