Ana Mendieta
Flower Person, Flower Body, 1975Super-8mm film transferred to high-definition digital media, color, silent6' 20''
Ed. 8 + 3 AP
In this work, Mendieta operated the camera from a slightly elevated position on the shoreline. From her position, she captured a distant view of a Silueta she formed with white peonies, which was floating downstream on a raft she made by draping red velvet across a stretcher of twigs and branches. When the raft floated beyond the camera's frame, she stopped the camera and took up a more elevated position further downstream. From there, she captured a clearer aerial view of the Silueta nestled on the floating raft, she maintained until the structure again floated beyond the camera's frame. She moved further downstream six more times, repeating the process. For all but the last of these fragments, she shot close-up footage of the raft as it floated by. In 1981, the artist explained in a lecture at Alfred University, New York, that, although not captured on film, the water eventually absorbed and destroyed the raft.
