
Ana Mendieta
Biography
Ana Mendieta (November 18, 1948 – September 8, 1985) was a Cuban-American performance artist, sculptor, painter and video artist who is best known for her "earth-body" artwork. Born in Havana, Mendieta left for the United States in 1961.
Known For & Full Filmography15 Titles

Movie - 1974, 2h 15m • as Self
Mendieta, Ana: Burial Pyramide, Yagul, Mexico.

Movie - 1987, 2h 15m • as Self
This beautiful film is a portrait of the life and work of Cuban-born American artist Ana Mendieta. Mendieta used her own body, the raw materials of nature, and Afro-Cuban religion to express her feminist political consciousness and poetic vision. Interview footage with Mendieta and her own filmed records of her earthworks and performances are incorporated to render a vivid testament to her energy and extraordinary talent after her tragic, untimely death in 1985.

Movie - 1974, 2h 15m • Main Cast Role
A dead tree. A body. Ocean waves.

Movie - 1974, 2h 15m • as Self
United States 1974, Super 8 transferred to digital, colour, silent, 3 min

Movie - 1974, 2h 15m • as Self
A single-channel video (transferred from Super-8 film), color, silent, where we watch the artist from behind as she traces a rough outline of her body in blood against a white wall.

Movie - 1974, 2h 15m • as Ana
This film shows the artist, covered in white bird feathers, running along the shoreline of La Ventosa beach in Oaxaca, Mexico.

Movie - 1974, 2h 15m • as Self
This film is a performance that the artist undertook at Old Man’s Creek, Sharon Center, Iowa City, Iowa. The performance was recorded on Super-8 film and 35mm slides. The film shows Mendieta standing naked on the sandy bank on one side of the creek, in front of flowing water and a steep mud bank on the other side. After looking directly at the camera, she raises a flask to shoulder level and begins pouring blood down her chest, legs and stomach. She then reaches over her shoulders to include her back, and covers her arms before casting the empty vessel aside. Dropping to the ground, she plunges face-first into a heap of white feathers where she slowly rolls back and forth, adhering the feathers to the sticky blood on her skin. Finally, she rises slowly to stand with her arms held away from her body but bent at the elbow as though she is imagining being a bird with wings. She holds this position for a few seconds before the film ends.

Movie - 1974, 2h 15m • as Self
A self-portrait, Mirage exposes Mendieta's naked body in nature reflected in a mirror. She holds a gourd and stabs it open to let its seeds fly away.

Movie - 1972, 2h 15m • Main Cast Role
United States 1972, Super 8 transferred to digital, colour, silent, 7 min

Movie - 1974, 2h 15m • as Self
United States / Mexico 1974, Super 8 transferred to digital, colour, silent, 4 min

Movie - 1973, 2h 15m • as Self
Single channel, super-8mm film transferred to high-definition digital media, color, silent.

Movie - 1975, 2h 15m • Main Cast Role
Blood Inside Outside, demonstrates the pioneering feminist artist’s exploration of the multiple layers of meaning ascribed to blood—from death to rebirth.


