Editorial
Article
The trajectory of Ana Mendieta through two exhibitions at Sesc Pompeia, by Luana Fortes
Luana Fortes
19 Oct 2023, 2:26 pm
Against a dark background, the face of a woman with closed eyes hovers, while red liquid begins to trickle from her scalp. This is the performance film “Sweating Blood,” recorded by Ana Mendieta (1948-1985) in 1973, one of the 21 works featured in the exhibition “Ana Mendieta: Silhueta em Fogo” at Sesc Pompeia. Curated by Daniela Labra, with assistant curator Hilda de Paulo and support from Maíra de Freitas, this solo exhibition is the first comprehensive showcase of Mendieta’s work in Latin America.
The short film, recorded on Super 8, was made a year after the artist received her master’s degree from the University of Iowa. It is one of the few works where the focus remains solely on the face. It serves as a gateway to themes that surround the production of the Cuban-American artist. The presence and involvement of her own body in her work is one of these gateways, a constant thread throughout her artistic journey and output.
Above: Ana Mendieta, "Ocean Bird (Washup)", 1974. © 2023 The Estate of Ana Mendieta Collection, LLC
Ana Mendieta, "Sweating Blood", 1973. Photo: Reproduction Artnet News / Courtesy Galerie Lelong
On one hand, this presence underscores Mendieta’s connection to the vibrant discussions in the United States in the 1970s about the dematerialization of art, as the artist shifted from a background in painting to developing video and photo-performance art. In other words, her performances were created to be filmed or photographed, not relying on the presence of an audience during the act. In one of the texts in the catalog of Ana Mendieta’s exhibition at the Centro Galego de Arte Contemporánea in Spain in 1996, the artist stated: “In art, the turning point came in 1972 when I realized that my paintings were not real enough for what I wanted the image to convey, and when I say real, I meant that my images should have power and be magical.”
On the other hand, the relationship between using her own body and self-portraiture brings with it the implication of herself as a social and political body, encompassing gender and racial issues, as she places herself as a woman and a Latin American immigrant in front of the camera. If her face is bleeding with closed eyes, is it a scene after an act of violence? It is through nuances like these that Ana Mendieta addresses violence against women.
Ana Mendieta © The Estate of Ana Mendieta Collection, LLC. Courtesy Galerie Lelong & Co. Licensed by Artist Rights Society, New York / AUTVIS
Subjected
By simultaneously positioning herself as both the author and the figure, using herself as the one who undergoes certain actions, Mendieta also places herself as the subject. She alters the axis of action and breaks with passive logics. It is no longer about women and/or racialized individuals being seen as objects of analysis, representation, and/or desire. It is about being, herself, both the analyst and the one being analyzed. The one who represents and the one who is represented.
In the series of works “Silhouettes,” created between 1973 and 1980, a significant part of the exhibition at Sesc Pompeia, this question takes on even more dimensions. The series consists of actions carried out in outdoor natural settings, where Mendieta sculpts the silhouette of her body on the ground and, in some cases, adds materials on or around it. The documentation of these actions is captured through photos or film and sometimes includes only the mark of the silhouette on the ground or the actual image of Ana Mendieta’s body.
The artist pushes the boundaries of visibility and disappearance, emphasizing the gap between a body and its representation. What is present in the image can be the trace of the body or the body alongside its trace. Thus, it also addresses the ability to create meaning in the absence, the void.
Ana Mendieta, "Alma, Silueta en Fuego", 1975 - © Mendieta, Ana/ AUTVIS, Brasil, 2023.
Blood
“Bloody Silhouette” (1975), one of the works in the series, depicts a silhouette in the mud by the edge of a river in Iowa. The initial images show Ana Mendieta’s naked body lying on her back over the silhouette. Cut. The same frame shows the silhouette covered in blood. Cut. Ana Mendieta returns to the frame and lies face down in the blood. In this work, as in “Sweating Blood,” the artist chooses to use the metaphorical and physical weight of blood, which can be associated with both life and death.
By creating these and other works in natural environments, the artist places her body or the trace of her body in relation to nature itself. Mendieta sought the connections between herself and the earth, which, in her work, took on elements of ritual, as she believed that the highest value of art was its spiritual role.
Ana Mendieta, Untitled: Silueta series, 1976. Photo: Reproduction © 2023 The Estate of Ana Mendieta Collection, LLC.
One of the early texts in the exhibition “Ana Mendieta: Silhueta em Fogo” is precisely a statement where the artist discusses this interest. “I have been maintaining a dialogue between the landscape and the female body. Having been uprooted from my homeland during my adolescence, I feel oppressed by the sensation of having been expelled from the womb (Nature). My art is the way I establish the bonds that connect me to the Universe. It is a return to the maternal source.”
Between ritual, sacrifice, and magic, Ana Mendieta’s work navigated the revivals of the relationship between herself and nature, breaking down the rationalist divisions between nature and culture, and challenging the material and symbolic violence that subalternized bodies can endure.
Ana Mendieta, "Anima, Silueta de Cohetes (Firework Piece)", 1976. © Mendieta, Ana/ AUTVIS, Brasil, 2023.
Feminisms
In addition to the exhibition, there is also the concurrent collective exhibition “terra abrecaminhos.” Featuring works by 30 artists and thinkers that touch on subjects related to Ana Mendieta’s production, this collective exhibition aims to directly address the connections between the artist’s work and feminisms, as this aspect only appears marginally in “Ana Mendieta: Silhueta em Fogo.”
With similar exhibition designs that effectively utilize the space at Sesc Pompeia, designed by Lina Bo Bardi, the two exhibitions blend into each other, making it nearly impossible to view only one of them. Prominently featured at the beginning or end of your visit is the artwork that addresses the elephant in the room, the subject that was avoided but is inescapable: the death of Ana Mendieta at the age of 36.
In a tall, white, glass-enclosed showcase is the work “Hand-Heart for Mendieta” (1986), a tribute by her fellow American artist Carolee Schneemann. The work consists of photographic impressions of actions involving paint, ashes, blood, and syrup on snow, accompanied by an exhibition caption featuring a letter signed by Schneemann. “We artists, especially women artists, felt that an important part of us was killed when she was killed. Her death was a huge obliteration, arbitrary and painful, of female energy and power. She chose the wrong bull,” Schneemann wrote. It’s worth noting that Schneemann uses the passive voice in “when she was killed,” without specifying who might have been responsible for the action.
Carolee Schneemann, "Hand-Heart for Ana Mendieta", 1986. Photo: Reproduction Hales Gallery
In 1985, Ana Mendieta fell (or “allegedly fell”) from the window of the New York apartment where she lived with her partner, minimalist artist Carl Andre, who was accused of her murder. Andre was acquitted, but many do not believe in the judicial decision. Writer Robert Katz wrote a book on the case titled “Naked by the Window: The Fatal Marriage of Carl Andre and Ana Mendieta,” published in 1990. The podcast “Death of an Artist” also addresses Mendieta’s death, hosted by curator Helen Molesworth.
Regarding the subject of an artist’s biography and how much it should be considered when interpreting their work, much discussion revolves around the circumstances of her death. In the case of an exhibition about Ana Mendieta, this discussion is even more delicate, as the potential femicide that led to her death intersects with the issues raised by her work and her career. Hence the relevance of a comprehensive individual exhibition that grapples with the difficulties of labeling Mendieta as a feminist artist and bringing to light the role of her ex-partner in her death, followed by another, contemporary one, unafraid to name the issue. But was it really the case?
Ana Mendieta: Silhueta em Fogo | terra abrecaminhos
Sesc Pompeia – São Paulo
Until January 21, 2024
Luana Fortes She is a curator, cultural journalist, and professor, currently pursuing a master’s degree in Brazilian Identities and Cultures at the Institute of Brazilian Studies at the University of São Paulo. She is a member of the Interdisciplinary Faculty Core at FAAP, teaching in the Visual Arts Teaching, Visual Arts Bachelor’s, and Cultural Production programs, as well as in the postgraduate program in Contemporary Artistic Practices. She is currently living and working in Los Angeles, California, participating in the annual Getty Graduate Internship program, working in the Digital Media & Content Strategy department of the Getty Research Institute. Previously, she was the editor-in-chief of the contemporary art magazine seLecT and a producer for the Art and Education Award and Seminar of the same organization. She was also part of the Research and Curatorial Core of the Tomie Ohtake Institute.
SP–Arte Profile
Join the SP–Arte community! We are the largest art and design fair in South America and we want you to be part of it. Create or update your profile to receive our newsletters and to have a personalized experience on our website and at our fairs.