Ana Mendieta (1948 – 8 September 1985) was a Cuban-born American artist famous for her performance art and video works.
Mendieta was born in Havana, Cuba but moved to America at a young age. At 13, she and her older sister were exiled from Cuba because her family opposed the revolutionary government. They were placed in foster care in Iowa through Operation Peter Pan run by the U.S. government. See studied 'intermedia' art at University of Iowa in the late 1960s.
Much of Mendieta's work had a feminist political message. She made an abrupt change to performance art in 1972 and most of her interventions, performance pieces and cine films where made between 1972 and 1978. A common theme in her performance art was violence against the female body. She often went for the shock factor in representing sexual abuse and many of her performances involved significant quantities of animal blood.
Later Mendieta moved on to leaving her mark on the environment, most particularly in her silueta pieces which typically involved carving her imprint into sand or mud, making body prints or painting the her outline or silhouette onto a wall.
She died on 8 September 1985 in New York falling from her 34th floor apartment in Greenwich Village. Eight months earlier Mendieta had married the minimalist sculptor Carl Andre. Andre was tried and acquitted of her murder - during the trial he described her death as suicide.
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Last updated: 10-13-2005 23:49:45
