Ana Mendieta Analysis

As an artist of the 1970’s, Ana Mendieta is interested in exploring art beyond the confines of a studio setting. Because the earth art movement offers an earth-centered, liberating approach to artmaking, Ana Mendieta chooses to produce work that fits into that category. The techniques and ideologies associated with the movement allow her to challenge a multiplicity of paradigms that conflict with her identities. Even though Mendieta’s work fits within the earth art movement, her artwork’s multifaceted nature allows it to integrate well with other movements such as feminism. Ana Mendieta uses Santeria, an Afro-Caribbean religion, to explore and better understand her role as a displaced woman. Throughout the Silueta series, her most well-known body of work, Mendieta uses Santeria rituals and iconography, formal …show more content…
Ana Mendieta longs to reconcile and purify any animosity that is present in her relationship with water and the earth. According to a prominent scholar: “water has a special meaning in Santeria: rivers are one of the places where orishas live and the sea is the domain of Yemaya.” In the quote above, orishas and Yemaya can be understood to be spirits. Therefore, the use of water is not coincidental but purposeful and tied to Mendieta 's knowledge of and admiration for Santeria. By employing water, Mendieta is able to reflect her spiritual longing for fortitude when facing adversity. Mendieta 's forced displacement from her homeland Cuba, greatly influenced her stylistic, formal, and conceptual choices as an artist. By choosing to use water within many of her works, Mendieta makes a clear cry for belonging and for strengthening her relationship with the migrant landscape in an effort to fully regain her spiritual