Ana Mendieta
SOIL. The World at Our Feet
Somerset House, London
Jan 23 - Apr 13, 2025
Ana Mendieta
During her brief but prolific career, Cuban artist Ana Mendieta® conceived an innovative body of work that materialized in photography, film, video, drawing, sculpture and site-specific installations. The main themes of her work continue to be relevant today, as they traverse present-day issues such as exile, displacement and the return to nature. Mendieta established her own personal synthesis between Body and Land Art through the hybridization between form and documentation, generating a series of works that she titled Siluetas. In these powerful productions where the artist fuses her body with nature, Mendieta allows the metamorphosis of herself into natural elements such as fire and water, becoming part of nature. From Iowa to Mexico, through Cuba, New York and finally Rome, Ana Mendieta explored the concept of the earth as a space in which to address issues of displacement by articulating the presence of her body and its trace within different natural elements and environments.
Selected Works
Untitled (Facial Hair Transplants)
1972 / 1997
Suite of seven color photographs
Variable dimensions
Untitled (Grass on Woman)
1972 / 2022
Suite of five color photographs
Ed. 10 + III AP
Untitled
1972/2020
Suite of six black and white photographs
Each 57 x 73 x 4 cm (22 7⁄16 x 28 3⁄4 x 1 9⁄16 inches)Ed. 12 + III AP
Body Tracks
1974 / 2012
Suite of five color photographs
Variable dimensions
Untitled
c. 1978-79
Graphite on paper
33.2 x 39.6 cm (13 1⁄16 x 15 19⁄32 inches)
Untitled
c. 1984-85
Graphite on paper
41.3 x 32.6 cm (16 1⁄4 x 12 27⁄32 inches)
Untitled
1981 / 2019
Color photograph
76.2 x 59 x 4 cm (30 x 23 7⁄32 x 1 9⁄16 inches)Ed. 10 + III AP
Sandwoman
1983/2018
Black and white photograph
160 x 122 x 5.7 cm (63 x 48 1⁄32 x 2 1⁄4 inches)Ed. 6 + III AP
Bacayu (Esculturas Rupestres) [Light of Day (Rupestrian Sculptures)]
1981 / 2019
Black and white photograph
101.6 x 139.7 cm (40 x 55 inches) Framed 104.8 x 142.9 x 5.1 cm (41 1⁄4 x 56 1⁄4 x 2 inches)Ed. 3 + II AP
Guacar (Esculturas Rupestres) [Our Menstruation (Rupestrian Sculptures)]
1981 / 2018
Black and white photograph
Unframed 135.9 x 104.1 cm (53 1⁄2 x 40 31⁄32 inches) Framed 139.7 x 107.3 x 5.1 cm (55 x 42 1⁄4 x 2 inches)Ed. 3 + II AP
X-ray
c. 1975
Super-8mm film transferred to high-definition digital media, color, silent
0h 01' 36''Ed. 8 + III AP
Flower Person, Flower Body
1975
Super-8mm film transferred to high-definition digital media, color, silent
0h 06' 20''Ed. 6 + III AP
Birth (Gunpowder Works)
1981
Super-8mm film transferred to high-definition digital media, black and white, silent.
0h 02' 59''Ed. 6 + III AP
Ochún
1981
3/4 inch U-matic color video with sound.
0h 08' 17''
Installation
Ana Mendieta: Aux Commencements, 2024
Musée des beaux-arts La Chaux-de-Fonds
Photography: Gaspard Gigon / © 2024 The Estate of Ana Mendieta Collection, LLC. VEGAP, Madrid.
Ana Mendieta: En búsqueda del origen / Search for Origin, 2024
MUSAC, León
Photography: © 2024 The Estate of Ana Mendieta Collection, LLC. VEGAP, Madrid.
Ana Mendieta: En búsqueda del origen / Search for Origin, 2024
MUSAC, León
Photography: © 2024 The Estate of Ana Mendieta Collection, LLC. VEGAP, Madrid.
Ana Mendieta: Search for Origin, 2023
MOCO, Montpellier
Photography: © 2024 The Estate of Ana Mendieta Collection, LLC. VEGAP, Madrid.
Ana Mendieta: Search for Origin, 2023
MOCO, Montpellier
Photography: © 2023 The Estate of Ana Mendieta Collection, LLC. VEGAP, Madrid.
Installation view: Together, at the Same Time, 2022
De La Cruz Collection, Miami, Florida
Photography: © 2022 The Estate of Ana Mendieta Collection, LLC. VEGAP, Madrid.
Installation view: La tierra habla (The Earth Speaks), 2019
Galerie Lelong & Co., New York, New York
Photography: Christopher Burke Studio / © 2019 The Estate of Ana Mendieta Collection, LLC. VEGAP, Madrid.
Installation view: La tierra habla (The Earth Speaks), 2019
Galerie Lelong & Co., New York, New York
Photography: Christopher Burke Studio / © 2019 The Estate of Ana Mendieta Collection, LLC. VEGAP, Madrid.
Installation view: Covered in Time and History: The Films of Ana Mendieta, 2018
Galerie nationale du Jeu de Paume, Paris, France
Photography: © 2018 The Estate of Ana Mendieta Collection, LLC. VEGAP, Madrid.
Installation view: Covered in Time and History: The Films of Ana Mendieta, 2018
Galerie nationale du Jeu de Paume, Paris, France
Photography: © 2018 The Estate of Ana Mendieta Collection, LLC. VEGAP, Madrid.
Installation view: Covered in Time and History: The Films of Ana Mendieta, 2018
Galerie nationale du Jeu de Paume, Paris, France
Photography: © 2018 The Estate of Ana Mendieta Collection, LLC. VEGAP, Madrid.
Installation view: Covered in Time and History: The Films of Ana Mendieta, 2017
Bildmuseet, Umeå, Sweden
Photography: Mikael Lundgren / © 2017 The Estate of Ana Mendieta Collection, LLC. VEGAP, Madrid.
Installation view: Energy Charge: Connecting to Ana Mendieta, 2016
Arizona State University Art Museum, Tempe, Arizona
Photography: Craig Smith / © 2016 The Estate of Ana Mendieta Collection, LLC. VEGAP, Madrid.
Installation view: Covered in Time and History: The Films of Ana Mendieta, 2016
NSU Art Museum, Fort Lauderdale, Florida
Photography: Stephen Brooke / © 2016 The Estate of Ana Mendieta Collection, LLC. VEGAP, Madrid.
Installation view: Covered in Time and History: The Films of Ana Mendieta at the Katherine E. Nash Gallery, 2015
University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Photography: Amber White / © 2015 The Estate of Ana Mendieta Collection, LLC. VEGAP, Madrid.
Left: Self-Portrait with Blood, 1973/1997, Suite of six color photographs, framed, 20 x 16 in. (50.8 x 40.6 cm) each. Right: Sweating Blood, November 1973, Super 8 film, color, silent, 3 min. 18 sec., Filmwork No. 14.
Installation view: Ana Mendieta: She Got Love, 2013
Castello di Rivoli, Turin, Italy
Photography: / © 2013 The Estate of Ana Mendieta Collection, LLC. VEGAP, Madrid.
Installation view: Ana Mendieta: She Got Love, 2013
Castello di Rivoli, Turin, Italy
Photography: © 2013 The Estate of Ana Mendieta Collection, LLC. VEGAP, Madrid.
Installation view of Ana Mendieta’s Mud and Sand Figures at ‘Ana Mendieta: Traces’ exhibition, 2013
Hayward Gallery, London
Photography: Linda Nylind / © 2013 The Estate of Ana Mendieta Collection, LLC. VEGAP, Madrid.
Installation view of Ana Mendieta, Rastros Corporales (Body Tracks), 1982 at ‘Ana Mendieta: Traces’ exhibition, 2013
Hayward Gallery, London
Photography: Linda Nylind / © 2013 The Estate of Ana Mendieta Collection, LLC. VEGAP, Madrid.
Installation view of Ana Mendieta, Totem Grove, 1985 at ‘Ana Mendieta: Traces’ exhibition, 2013
Hayward Gallery, London
Photography: Linda Nylind / © 2013 The Estate of Ana Mendieta Collection, LLC. VEGAP, Madrid.
News
Exhibitions
Parar la fresca
FontetaJun 18 - Aug 3, 2021
We’re delighted to present a joint project by Bombon, Galeria Joan Prats and NoguerasBlanchard in Fonteta, a small village in the Empordà region from June to September.
The exhibition, conceived in two chapters (the first opening June 18th and the second August 7th) brings together artists from three different generations. The proposal begins with a concept from the Empordà Parar la fresca (to take in fresh air) described by Josep Pla in the book Las Horas (The Hours), 1953.
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Tropic-Ana
MadridFeb 15 - Jun 6, 2020
In Ana Mendieta’s drawings, movement frees itself from time, revitalizing the fixed condition of the image and connecting it to the film in a natural way, forming part of a whole.
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