Abstract

The art of Ana Mendieta, though still largely unrecognized, has an important place in art history. Not only is it significant to the development of new ways of creating art, but the ideas presented call into question commonly accepted attitudes of American society in radical ways. In her rejection of the gallery space and transformation of performance art into sculpture works, into art as a disappearing act, Mendieta explores the shaky boundaries of what art actually is and could be. In these explorations, she dissects the idea of identity and gives it a new definition on her own terms. This essay explores Mendieta's mostly ignored early works in conjunction with her more well known later pieces in order to give a more full examination of both the ideas present and the importance the work has beyond her own personal life and to the whole of society.<br />

Highlights

  • "Her work is based on the belief that there is no one true way to statically define identity and that true identity can only be found in the rejection of individuality."

  • Ana Mendieta's work consists of revolutionary concepts

  • Her work is based on the belief that there is no one true way to statically define identity and that true identity can only be found i n the rejection of individuality

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Summary

EARLY WORK

I n her earliest experiments with this concept, Mendieta attempts to call into question the most basic forms of identification. I n her M.A. thesis project, Facial Hair Transplant from 1972, Mendieta goes further i n her investigation by exploring and challenging the notion of gendered identity She documents the transplant of the freshly-shaven beard of her male friend, Morty Sklar, to her own face. According to Gill Perry," She both takes control of the experience, directing the viewer's gaze towards the ways i n which a woman's body might be abused or disfigured (as, for example, through rape) and alienates herself from it, creating a more emblematic image."[111] I n part of the same series she presses her face against the glass, violently distorting her features, producing an almost grotesque and inhuman creature She exploits the human form i n ways to disassociate it with any kind of gender identity. She attempts to apply a Santeria explanation to modern day societal problems

INFLUENCE OF SANTERIA
LATER WORK

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