Untitled (Silueta Series, Iowa)

1980

Ana Mendieta

(American, b. Cuba, 1948–1985)

Culture

America

Medium

gelatin silver print

Measurements

Image: 18.2 x 24.3 cm (7 3/16 x 9 9/16 in.); Paper: 20.6 x 25.4 cm (8 1/8 x 10 in.)

Credit Line

Dudley P. Allen Fund 2023.115

This artwork is known to be under copyright.

Location

Not on view

Did You Know?

At age 12, Ana Mendieta was sent from Cuba to live in the United States in 1961 after the Communists took control of the island.

Description

“I have been carrying out a dialogue between the landscape and the female body (based on my own silhouette),” wrote Mendieta. “I believe this has been a direct result of my having been torn from my homeland (Cuba) during my adolescence.” Sculpting into the soil at the edge of a slope, Mendieta created a silhouette based on her own body. She then photographed that ephemeral earth work. The photograph is the part of the artwork that remains.