Ana Mendieta

Ana Mendieta

Directing
1948-11-18
Havana, Cuba

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

#1Burial Pyramid

Movie - 1974, 2h 15m as Self

8.8 / 10
Documentary

Mendieta, Ana: Burial Pyramide, Yagul, Mexico.

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#2Ana Mendieta: Fuego de Tierra

Movie - 1987, 2h 15m as Self

10.0 / 10
Documentary

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.

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#3Untitled

Movie - 1974, 2h 15m Main Cast Role

8.8 / 10

A dead tree. A body. Ocean waves.

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#4Blood Writing

Movie - 1974, 2h 15m as Self

8.8 / 10

United States 1974, Super 8 transferred to digital, colour, silent, 3 min

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#5Blood Sign

Movie - 1974, 2h 15m as Self

8.8 / 10

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.

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#6Bird Run

Movie - 1974, 2h 15m as Ana

8.8 / 10

This film shows the artist, covered in white bird feathers, running along the shoreline of La Ventosa beach in Oaxaca, Mexico.

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#7Blood + Feathers

Movie - 1974, 2h 15m as Self

8.8 / 10

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.

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#8Mirage

Movie - 1974, 2h 15m as Self

8.8 / 10

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.

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#9Creek

Movie - 1974, 2h 15m as Self

8.8 / 10

Ana Mendieta, 1974

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#10Black Angel

Movie - 1975, 2h 15m as Self

8.8 / 10

Short film by Ana Mendieta.

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#11Chicken Movie, Chicken Piece

Movie - 1972, 2h 15m Main Cast Role

2.0 / 10

United States 1972, Super 8 transferred to digital, colour, silent, 7 min

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#12Ocean Bird (Washup)

Movie - 1974, 2h 15m as Self

8.8 / 10

United States / Mexico 1974, Super 8 transferred to digital, colour, silent, 4 min

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#13Sweating Blood

Movie - 1973, 2h 15m as Self

8.8 / 10

Single channel, super-8mm film transferred to high-definition digital media, color, silent.

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#14Blood Inside Outside

Movie - 1975, 2h 15m Main Cast Role

8.8 / 10

Blood Inside Outside, demonstrates the pioneering feminist artist’s exploration of the multiple layers of meaning ascribed to blood—from death to rebirth.

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#15Body Tracks

Movie - 1974, 2h 15m Main Cast Role

3.0 / 10

United States 1974, Super 8 transferred to digital, colour, silent, 1 min

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