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Iowa adolescence shaped
artist's body of work
Omaha
World-Herald,
February 28, 2005.
DES MOINES (AP) - Ana Mendieta and her
sister were shipped to the United States
from Cuba by their parents, landed in a
Dubuque orphanage and were shuffled among
several foster homes - all before graduating
from high school.
Abstracts of the female form figure prominently
in Ana Mendieta's work, which is on display
at the Des Moines Art Center.
Friends say such turmoil on the cusp of
adolescence was the reason Mendieta, who
died in 1985, spent the rest of her life
trying to claim a sense of belonging through
her art.
In an exhibit at the Des Moines Art Center,
Mendieta's photographs, sculpture, drawings
and performance art convey that, said Jeff
Fleming, the museum's deputy director.
"The longing to find a place or an
identity is something you cannot avoid in
her work," Fleming said. "It's
a direct attempt to connect with her past."
In many ways, so is the exhibit - the first
of Mendieta's work in Iowa.
"It's exciting, of course, but it's
really amazing that it took so long for
her work to come back to the place where
she lived and worked as an artist,"
said Hans Breder, who mentored Mendieta
through his Intermedia Program for the New
Performing Arts at the University of Iowa.
"It is a real homecoming for the things
she did and the influence she had on so
many others," said Breder, who also
was romantically involved with Mendieta.
Born in Havana in 1948, Mendieta grew up
among the elite. Her father, Ignacio, initially
supported the Castro revolution and was
rewarded with a ministry position in 1960,
according to a book published as part of
the exhibition. But his support soured and,
after rejecting an invitation to join the
Communist Party, he was blacklisted and
became a counterrevolutionary.
With their lives in danger, Ignacio and
his wife, Raquel, decided to protect Ana
and her sister, Raquelin, by shipping them
to the United States with 14,000 other children
through a program called Operation Pedro
Pan. An organization affiliated with Catholic
Charities sent the girls to Dubuque, where
they initially were placed in the St. Mary's
Home, a group home for disturbed and neglected
children.
Ana later was assigned to three foster
homes. She eventually graduated from high
school and enrolled at Briar Cliff University
in Sioux City but later transferred to the
University of Iowa. There, she earned a
bachelor's degree and a master's degree
in fine arts under Breder's tutelage.
The experience reshaped Mendieta's work.
At first, she focused on conventional forms
such as drawing and painting but later was
encouraged to explore new territory, like
video, silhouettes and abstraction.
From trips to Mexico, cultural icons made
their way into Mendieta's visual lexicon.
And she was challenged to incorporate her
body into her work, exploring themes of
death, longing, religion and feminism.
"Her work immediately moved off the
canvas . . . to work that was really about
the experience, a moment in time or action
with a connection to the environment,"
Breder said. "For Ana, it was perfect.
She lived between cultures, between languages,
and this is something every displaced person
goes through."
The result is a diverse and extensive collection
of work that has been displayed worldwide
in the decades since her death.
Mendieta's death generated as much intrigue
and speculation as her life story and her
art.
After completing her degree, she moved
to New York. At a solo exhibit of her work
in 1979, she met minimalist sculptor Carl
Andre. The two married in Rome in January
1985 and honeymooned in Egypt. Nine months
later, she plunged from the window of her
34th-floor apartment in Greenwich Village.
Andre said it was suicide. He was charged
with murder but was acquitted.
The exhibit of her work, "Ana Mendieta:
Earth Body, Sculpture and Performance, 1972-1985,"
was organized by the Hirshhorn Museum in
Washington, D.C., where it appeared before
coming to Iowa.
Fleming said so much of what Mendieta did
pushed the boundaries of art.
"It's astonishing work that really
needed and deserves the kind of thorough
investigation the exhibit offers,"
he said.
The show closes May 22.
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