Ana Mendieta was a Cuban-American artist who, in her tragically short career, made over 100 films in direct dialogue with her work in performance, sculpture and photography.
This screening presents a selection of the short films Mendieta made between 1971 and 1974, beginning with what is believed to be her first film. Mendieta appears in the majority of the films from this period, whether in public performances or in privately filmed actions. Using materials such as animal blood, bird feathers, grass, air, water and earth, she stages ritualistic scenes characterised by their deep sense of poignancy and poetic beauty.
I have been carrying out a dialogue between the landscape and the female body. Having been torn from my homeland (Cuba) during my adolescence, I am overwhelmed by the feeling of having been cast from the womb (Nature). My art is the way I reestablish the bonds that unite me to the Universe. It is a return to the maternal source.
Ana Mendieta
Ana Mendieta Untitled c.1971, film still. Copyright The Estate of Ana Mendieta Collection, L.L.C. Courtesy Galerie Lelong & Co. and Alison Jacques Gallery
Ana Mendieta Blood Writing 1974, film still. Copyright The Estate of Ana Mendieta Collection, L.L.C. Courtesy Galerie Lelong & Co. and Alison Jacques Gallery
Ana Mendieta Ocean Bird (Washup) 1974, film still. Copyright The Estate of Ana Mendieta Collection, L.L.C. Courtesy Galerie Lelong & Co. and Alison Jacques Gallery
Ana Mendieta Weather Balloon, Feathered Balloon 1974, film still. Copyright The Estate of Ana Mendieta Collection, L.L.C. Courtesy Galerie Lelong & Co. and Alison Jacques Gallery
Ana Mendieta Body Tracks 1974, film still. Copyright The Estate of Ana Mendieta Collection, L.L.C. Courtesy Galerie Lelong & Co. and Alison Jacques Gallery
Ana Mendieta Parachute 1973, video still. Copyright The Estate of Ana Mendieta Collection, L.L.C. Courtesy Galerie Lelong & Co. and Alison Jacques Gallery
Ana Mendieta Moffitt Building Piece 1973, film still. Copyright The Estate of Ana Mendieta Collection, L.L.C. Courtesy Galerie Lelong & Co. and Alison Jacques Gallery
Ana Mendieta Grass Breathing c.1974, film still. Copyright The Estate of Ana Mendieta Collection, L.L.C. Courtesy Galerie Lelong & Co. and Alison Jacques Gallery
Ana Mendieta Chicken Movie, Chicken Piece 1972, film still. Copyright The Estate of Ana Mendieta Collection, L.L.C. Courtesy Galerie Lelong & Co. and Alison Jacques Gallery
![Ana Mendieta Silueta del Laberinto [Laberinth Blood Imprint] 1974, film still. Copyright The Estate of Ana Mendieta Collection, L.L.C. Courtesy Galerie Lelong & Co. and Alison Jacques Gallery](https://media.tate.org.uk/aztate-prd-ew-dg-wgtail-st1-ctr-data/images/gp_1928_-_silueta_del_laberinto_laberinth_blo.width-1200.jpg)
Ana Mendieta Silueta del Laberinto [Laberinth Blood Imprint] 1974, film still. Copyright The Estate of Ana Mendieta Collection, L.L.C. Courtesy Galerie Lelong & Co. and Alison Jacques Gallery
Ana Mendieta Door Piece 1973, film still. Copyright The Estate of Ana Mendieta Collection, L.L.C. Courtesy Galerie Lelong & Co. and Alison Jacques Gallery
Ana Mendieta Dog 1974, film still. Copyright The Estate of Ana Mendieta Collection, L.L.C. Courtesy Galerie Lelong & Co. and Alison Jacques Gallery
Ana Mendieta Mirage 1974, film still. Copyright The Estate of Ana Mendieta Collection, L.L.C. Courtesy Galerie Lelong & Co. and Alison Jacques Gallery
Programme
Untitled, United States c.1971, Super 8 film transferred to digital, colour, silent, 2 min
Chicken Movie, Chicken Piece, United States 1972, Super 8 transferred to digital, colour, silent, 7 min
Door Piece, United States 1973, Super 8 transferred to digital, colour, silent, 4 min
Moffitt Building Piece, United States 1973, Super 8 transferred to digital, colour, silent, 3 min
Parachute, United States 1973 1/2-inch reel-to-reel videotape transferred to digital, black and white, sound, 7 min
Sweating Blood, United States 1973, Super 8 transferred to digital, colour, silent, 3 min
Blood Writing, United States 1974, Super 8 transferred to digital, colour, silent, 3 min
Body Tracks, United States 1974, Super 8 transferred to digital, colour, silent, 1 min
Dog, United States / Mexico 1974, Super 8 transferred to digital, colour, silent, 3 min
Ocean Bird (Washup), United States / Mexico 1974, Super 8 transferred to digital, colour, silent, 4 min
Silueta del Laberinto (Laberinth Blood Imprint), United States / Mexico 1974, Super 8 transferred to digital, colour, silent, 3 min
Mirage, United States 1974, Super 8 transferred to digital, colour, silent, 3 min
Weather Balloon, Feathered Balloon, United States 1974, Super 8 film transferred to digital, colour, silent, 4 min
Grass Breathing, United States c.1974, Super 8 film transferred to digital, colour, silent, 3 min
The screening is followed by a discussion with Raquel Cecilia Mendieta, film archivist, the Estate of Ana Mendieta Collection; Catherine Wood, Senior Curator, International Art (Performance); and Michael Wellen, Curator, International Art specialising in Latin America.
See more from Ana Mendieta
This event forms part of the Tate Film Pioneers series Ana Mendieta: Body Tracks. Over two screenings, the series presents 27 of the over 100 film and video works made by the artist over a ten-year period. Also see Ana Mendieta: ‘The earth that covers us speaks’.
Four photographs by Ana Mendieta can also be seen as part of the Feminism and Media room of the free Media Networks collection display in the Boiler House on Level 4 East.
Biography
Ana Mendieta (1948–1985, Cuba) was a Cuban-American artist whose practice activated a potent dialogue between sculpture, performance, photography, film, video, painting and site-specific installation. Her works draw in a vast array of cultural, religious and artistic influences, from Afro-Cuban and indigenous Caribbean traditions to Catholicism to conceptual art and performance. They explore themes of mortality, the female body, human connection to the natural world, violence, displacement and cultural, spiritual, racial and gender identity. She is best known for her Silueta series, or what she has termed her ‘earth-body’ works, in which her silhouette is inscribed through various materials in outdoor, and later indoor, landscapes, recorded through photography and film.
