Untitled: Silueta Series

Ana Mendieta

Throughout the 1970s and ’80s, Ana Mendieta brought an intimate, distinctly feminist approach to the burgeoning realms of land art and earthworks. In her performances, photographs, films, sculptures, and more, the artist explored the mystical and emotional connections between her body and the natural world. In her “Silueta” series (1973–80) of “earth-body” performances, for example, she lay directly on the earth and made silhouettes. Medieta then documented her imprint with paint, blood, or found materials such as twigs or flowers and photographed the results. Her works could be gruesome and haunting, and it’s tempting to read them as prophecies of her brutal, untimely death in 1985. Mendieta received her MFA from the University of Iowa’s intermedia program before moving to New York City, and she exhibited extensively there and in cities such as Havana, Miami, and Rome during her lifetime. Her practice has since been subject to revived interest, and her work has been shown at the Museum of Modern Art, MoMA PS1, Museo Jumex, the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, and the New Museum, among other institutions.