The IMA is pleased to present an exhibition by Cuban American artist Ana Mendieta (1948-1985), guest curated by Prof. Susan Best, Queensland College of Art, Griffith University. Connecting to the Earth brings together two series of works that are about connection to land: the Silueta series and the Rupestrian Sculpture series. Rarely considered together, the two series powerfully demonstrate Mendieta’s idea of feminised nature. Using this ancient idea enabled her to posit alternatives to patriarchal culture in the name of the feminine, including: an ecological sensibility that emphasises the reciprocity between body and land; a resistance to colonialist conceptions of land and territory; and a complicated intertwining of terms that are traditionally polarised, such as transcendence and objectification, presence and absence and so forth.
Ana Mendieta, ‘Corazón de Roca con Sangre’, 1975, super-8mm film transferred to high-definition digital media, color, silent, 3:14 minutes. © The Estate of Ana Mendieta Collection, LLC.
