Ana Mendieta

Caroline Conboy
Who was Ana Mendieta?
● 1948-1985
● Born in Havana, Cuba
● When she was 12, Mendieta sought asylum in the U.S with her sister
○ Exiled after Cuban Revolution
○ Was held at a refugee camp until moved to an orphanage in Iowa
■ This process of being taken from her homeland had a great impact on her later artworks
● Graduate of the University of Iowa
○ 1969-BA in Art
○ 1972-MA in painting
○ Went on to register in the MFA Intermedia Program
■ Intermedia Program: “explored liminal spaces, boundaries between artistic and scholarly practices, between media,
between genres, between social and political universes, between viewer and artist.”
■ Wanted to work with different media to convey her artistic messages
Who was Ana Mendieta?

● Died by falling out of a 34th floor apartment window

○ Was with her husband, Andre, at the time of her death
○ Andre claimed that Mendieta died by suicide
■ Tried for second degree murder but not found guilty
■ To this day the cause of her death is still a controversy
“To question our
culture is to question
our own existence,
our human reality.
This in turn becomes
a search, a
questioning of who
we are and how we
will realize
ourselves.”
Mediums

● Film/video
● Installation
● Internet art
● Painting
● Performance
● Photography
● Sculpture
● Work on paper
○ Worked to convey messages about different themes:
■ Identity (race, gender, etc)
● Questioning how she is perceived as a woman and person of color
■ Social justice issues
Process:
● Much of Mendieta’s work was in public spaces or nature
○ Goal: Convey a particular message, often about important societal issues or her own identity
● Some of Ana Mendieta’s art was shocking
○ She wanted a reaction from the viewer
● Altering her own appearance to convey messages about identity
○ Photographic documentation
● Performance art
○ Utilized herself in her pieces
○ Documentation of her performance art through photography
● Installation art in public spaces
○ Used photography to document how the public reacted when they saw her art

https://www.theartstory.org/artist/mendieta-ana/artworks/
Untitled (Facial Hair Transplant), 1972, Ana Mendieta
Untitled (Glass on Body Imprints--face), 1972, Ana Mendieta
Trigger warning: sexual assault, blood
Untitled (Rape Scene), 1973, Ana Mendieta
Untitled (People Looking at Blood, Moffitt), 1973, Ana Mendieta
Untitled (Image from Yagul), 1973, Ana Mendieta
Untitled (Siluetas Series), 1976, Ana Mendieta
Guabancex, Goddess of Wind, 1981- 85, Ana Mendieta
Work Cited:
https://www.guggenheim.org/artwork/artist/ana-mendieta

https://www.moma.org/artists/3924

https://art.uiowa.edu/people/hans-breder

https://www.moma.org/artists/3924

https://www.guggenheim.org/teaching-materials/moving-pictures/ana-mendieta

https://www.theartstory.org/artist/mendieta-ana/artworks/

https://crystalbridges.org/blog/minimalism-and-murder-a-glimpse-at-the-relationship-of-carl-andre-and-ana-
mendieta/