Rites of woman , testimonies of existence : on the work of Ana Mendieta

              TERRITORIES
The personal lií'e of Ana Mendieta was
plagued with nnhappv circiimstances: a
childhood shattered bv emigration, a
long spell living off charitv. an
unfortiinate environment in lier adnlt
liie and, finallv, a tragic end. Iler work
is tlie result of a lost idendty and in i(.
shc tends to search Ibr llie roots that she
was denied: lnU alongsidc the
despciation and drama, it also conlains
an incrediblv poetic language which
heightens tlie inipacl of its treniendons
critica! contení. However. we slionld not
be niisled; biographv. despile being the
work's starting point. is not as iinjjortant
as the theoretical context in which this
work is carried ont. ñor as important as
the legacy left by this artist to the recent
history of art.
Mendieta belongs to tliat race of
woinen-artist.s capable of avoiding anv
possible representation of the fortnnate
side of life - perhaps becaiise she never
experienced snch possibihties - and
opting instead for an existeinial
philosophv full of drama and plagued
with meanings and feehngs. loiigli and
ground-breaking. Tliat way of thinking
has been the source of the aura in hcr
work and of a "stvle" which Gloria
Moure has captured perfeclly in the
exhibition organized bv tlie Centro
Rites of
Woman,
Testimonies of
Existence:
on é e Work of
Ana Mendieta
Galego de Arte Contemporánea. This
exhibition, after visiting Santiago de
Compostela. will later be shown in the
Kinisthalle in Dusseldorf, the Finidació
Tapies in Barcelona and the Center for
Fine Arts in Miami.
líorn in Havana in 1948, Mendieta
died in strange circumstances in New
York at the age of 37. For more than 20
years, she had sought her interior
landscape; she worked prirnarily with
memory, but she was also conditioned
bv social norms. She became one of the
greatest ñames in "performance;" that
difficult and ambiguous área of
contemporary creation, and
undoubtedly. apart from her own far-sightedness
- she never meanl to tuní
her work into an autobiographical
accotnn or piiblic scandal sheet - she
also became one of the greatest mvths of
conteinporarv art; a nivth ridden with
hidden secrets, tremendotisiy thoiight-provoking.
Mendieta lived a life of
displacement and adventiu'e., a life
branded with the shattered feelings of
those who have been forced to leave
their native land; all this led her to
retuní to nature and .Mother Earth hi
search of the warmth she was tmable to
find in society or in the landscape of her
particular circumstances. At the age of
13, she set ont on her rather bitter
Creative path. which gradually
established itself in her work as a
reflection of that dramatic existence.
There is no doubt that her personal
circumstances made her work a
chronicle of some of the raw facts of
contemporary life and of manv of the
existential problems of hiunankind
today. But witliin that framework.
Mendieta took time to examine and
reflect on the role of women in a societv
full of machismo, and to cast a critical
eye on the situation of someone from a
forsaken class (i.e. Cubans or Hispanics
(ENTEO AIUNTICO M ASTE KOOf RNO
in general) who is obliged to live iu a
society like tliat of ihe United Siates.
Slie was radical righl í'roni the
start, and her creative ainis were based
on conceptual art and all the
experimental options which aróse in the
seventies, l'roin the infhíences of ideas
like Fhixus to the heights of body art,
performances and happenings; these are
all nieans of expression where rehearsal
within the paraineters of reason and
reflection is a decisive factor. The
exhibilion organized Ijy Gloria Moure
aiiTis to reduce the drama snrrouiiding
Mcndieta, and to show a collection oí
work which slarts with some of the
artist's earliest actions and performances
(siich as "Facial Cosinetic Variations" or
"Glass on Body') which were carried otn
at the University of lowa in 1972. These
performances are the beginnings of a
process which foiind (via the "self-portrait").
an o|.iporttm¡ty to rehearse a
demvstifving and accusatory icono-graphv.
These actions made Mendieta an
aulhentic pioneer of "body-art."
Later. she began to tise what was
to become ihe basis of her work: the
foni! of the human Ijody. silhouettes or
imprints drawn or traced with a wide
range of materials or printed into the
earth itself. These expanded inlo
muhi|jle variations. wifh a general
lotem-iike as])ect ainl the use of images
with a strong primitive and archaic
content.
At that time, Mendieta was one of
the forerunners of transgression.
Watching the videos of her actions now.
almost a quarter of a centurv later,
proves her imdoubtedlv pi'ovocative
stance, which was to infhíenee manv
artists of later generations. But the
content of these actions is still a striking
chronicle of human behavior: the
reactions of people walking along the
pavemenl who discover a huge blood-
Aiia .Mciidii'la. I iilitlcd. 1977. Serie ".Árl»)!
de la Vicia . Performance. Courtesv CGAC.
stain on the ground, coming from uiider
a door: the representation of rape plaved
by the artist herself; a cow's heart nailed
to a tree triink; the Iransformation of
faces using masks and the silhouettes of
human Ixidies made of gimpowder
which are set alight, or wax candles
which buril awav; these are some of her
dramatic reminders. Des])ite the
undoubtedly tragic elements in her
work, Mendieta skilH'ully achieves the
iniracle of her poetry, a process which
affects oiir primary senses - at least as
far as a liturgv of tragedv is capable -
and reaches everv other scnsitive libre
within the spectator,
On the other hand, there is sex, a
comnion groinid which Mendieta
modifies imtil she achieves a symbolism
beyond debate. For example, "Feather
on Woman ' is an absolute declaration of
principies. The artist. naked. holds a
chieken wliicli appears lo vielfl to a
process of hvpnosis. Then, site chops off
the animáis head, spraying blood over
herself and the wliite wall l)eliiiid her,
while the chieken slowly dies in agony.
Once dead, its fcathers are slowly
plucked, one bv one, and placed over
(he naked botiv of another woman, The
sacrifice of sexnality: tliese are
metaphors for man. who uses the bodv
of woman. and the anibiguous or
ambivalent behavior of woman when
faced with this use or abuse.
This sense of transformalion - a
cerenionv between plavfulness and
tragedy, always with a secret and
snr])rising dialogue - is repeated in other
works of her earlv period, reaching its
height in works stich as the "Cave
Scnl|)tures' and the series "El árbol de
la Vida. These and other pieees
demónstrate Mendieta's allegorical
personality with undeniably ambivalent
tiirns: flowers which spring from an
apparentlv dead bodv. life which springs
from death and vice versa, the anguish
of clav and the jov of flowers, fetishism
for a cycle that appears to end in lifes
dissohition wilhiii earth s eternal
receptacle so tlial. fiíiallv. rebirth can
143
M4
take place. Meiidiela portravs thal cycle
over and over. Iiallwax hclweeii tlie
pei'ce|)t¡oii ol liei' owii cxperience and
lier iinderstanding ol llir world. betwecn
indcpcndeiice and slavci\. laking
Narcissns as an examplc. douliting
uiankiiid. pulling lailli in llic earlli.
Hers is a niv.stical wa\ wliicli oidcis and
direcls lioi' svnil)()lisl discoiirse.
It is lier niagical sense of existence
ihal determines tlie assnniplioii oí all
these preniises. diat ivligion hill di
nivslerv and liisliionie riles. Iransniillcd
hv iradition IVniíi gcneralion lo
gciieration siiice time iinmeniorial. il is
lonnd ¡n llic mosl scnsnal aspeéis ol lile,
aspeéis sneh as llie |3lavful side oí oiir
nainre or llie evidenl erolieisni ol'
represenling a hnmaii heiiig heeoininíi
one willi llie eai'lli. Dealli is anolliei- lile:
il is assoeialed. on llie one liand. willi
llie lesliinonv of IVagiliu wiiielí
eliaraelerizes lile and. henee, llie lioil\:
and on llie ollier liaiid. willi llie
lesliniom oí lilieralion and uinnipli al
lieing onee more ;il llie soiiree. willi
mollier nainre. leeling onesell' l'ree l'rom
llie liodv. I lial is llie oiiuiíi ol llie
sillioiielle. llie xcsiige ol'Iraiisrigmalion.
an onieii íor anollier kiiid ol' snr\ i\al.
111 .Mendieta s work. \\e ean see her
desire lo eross enltnres. llie iieed lo
seart:li l'oi' idenlilies aiid lo recoiieile
Iradilion (¡n llie sense oí eonslaiil
Imniaii \aliies) willi modeiniu. llial
ever-elianging elemenl eonslanlK lieing
roniied l)\ iiew Iradilions. In lilis sense.
lier work goes righl down lo llie rools -
tile legeiid oí santería ean be seen in her
desire to see tlie hod\ eomerled ¡uto
something saered. a spiriiiial objeet
whielí is ihe basis of llie hliirgv oí l¡íi>
and death. She seeks. as she hersell' has
said. "eniolional links willi nainre in
order to re-eslablish iniily w ¡lli ihe
imixerse.
Idie eenlral axis oí this \\ ork.
are pídol ol her \ iew ol real¡l\ and her
eapaeiu íor sMilhesis. lier idenliíicalions
and her resignalions. her (|iienlioiis
abonl wliere \ve come írom and where
\ve are goiiig lo. her ideas abonl
conventionalilx and liow lo Iransgress it.
Ana jVlendieta. in spi|e oí her
tragie destinv. was one oí' llie pillars ol'
.iViia Mendieta. Untitled, 1983-5. Col. Ua<|iieliii and Igualo Mendieta. Coiirlesy CCAC.
parallel lo perhirmanee. is ihe lolemie
iinpael oí her senlplnres - Iree Irmiks
hollowed onl as ií lliev were
sareophagnses. bul wliielí eoiilil also be
inlerpreled as shrines - aiiil llie
eoiieepliiiil \islon oí nalnral loriiis. niade
willi ihe malerials ihal llie earlh and
natm'e olíer. and iranshirnied ¡uto
snbjeeis w liielí are ea|)able oí deii\ iiig
realiu and rehearsal. In lliis wav.
.VIeiidieta i'eafíirms her debí lo lih' and
the Iribnle wliich musí be paid lo ¡I.
-Mnelí more corporal works enhance llie
intrinsic strensUi oí her discourse and
wlial was laler lo beeome a new pallern
in .'\mericaii beha\ ior: •polilieal
correclness. /'\s a Immanisi and a
h-niinisl willi a íighling ^piril. lier \\(irk
nalnralK portravs slaics ol' opinión
mii\C(l by \iolenee. yet her ¡iiíinileK
poelic langnage créales a niiic|ue slale of
grace and oplinnsiii: i|iialilies wliicli llie
arlisl herselí look eare lo leaxc beliind in
wriling wlieii she elassed herselí an
•archaeologisl of llie liap|i¡ness lo
come. ' despile llie íacl ihal. wliile
wailing. she was lo sacriíice her fecU's,
lier energies aiul e\ en her lile.