Ana Mendieta

“My art is grounded on the belief in one universal energy which runs through all
being and matter, all space and time.”


Ana Mendieta, a Cuban-American performance artist, painter, sculptor and video artist, is best known for her "earth-body" artwork. In her Silueta series (1973–80), Mendieta created artworks and performances where she lay in natural environments or covered her body with organic materials, capturing the resulting imprints or silhouettes. These performances echo Mendieta's experience as an exile from Cuba, having been separated from her homeland at a young age.
Through her Silueta works, she marked the land, leaving behind the trace of her absent body, which may symbolize her disconnection from her birthplace; she could not return to Cuba until the 1980s. The viewer could see the fact that she is creating art with nature, highlighting this somewhat desperate need to reconnect with her homeland and identity. However, it is also known that this technique is her way of fusing her interests in Afro-Cuban ritual and the pantheistic Santeria religion with contemporary practices such as earthworks, body art, and performance art; she maintained ties with her Cuban heritage.