Ana Mendieta: Suspended Fire is an immersive installation featuring two films created by Cuban-American artist Ana Mendieta. The installment will be the newest addition to the DAM’s cross-departmental exhibition The Light Show and will showcase remastered versions of Anima, Silueta de Cohetes (Firework Piece), 1976, and Untitled: Silueta Series, 1978. The two films portray the primordial element of fire, connecting thematically to The Light Show exhibition’s exploration of physical and symbolic representations of light in art. Organized by the DAM and curated by Laura F. Almeida, curatorial fellow for modern and contemporary art at the DAM. Suspended Fire will be on view Dec. 6, 2020, through March 7, 2021, on level 4 of the Hamilton Building.
Active as an artist throughout the 1970s and 1980s, Mendieta used her body as a way to explore ideas of identity and displacement and its connection to the earth. For Anima, Silueta de Cohetes (Firework Piece) and Untitled: Silueta Series, Mendieta created silhouettes of her body from firecrackers and a fallen tree, respectively. She set the silhouettes against darkened landscapes and lit them. In these two films, Mendieta explores fire as a symbol of renewal and transformation, creation and destruction, and presence and absence. The artist invites viewers to meditate upon life, death and the passage of time as the burning flames mesmerize us. The silhouettes, which appear suspended in space, also represent her anima, or soul. By placing them outdoors as the only source of light, Mendieta encourages viewers to think about the association between the female body and nature.
Suspended Fire is presented in a darkened space, with the two videos projected onto separate screens hanging from the ceiling, mimicking the suspension of the silhouettes on fire. The screens will be placed diagonally, slightly facing each other, creating an immersive and intimate space where viewers can connect with Mendieta’s art by standing between the two screens.
"One of Mendieta’s legacies is that she was extremely bold in using her own body as a medium to talk about issues of gender, violence, race, identity and belonging," curatorial fellow Almeida said. "She was also among the first female artists who experimented with unconventional organic and ephemeral materials, such as blood, earth, plants, fire and more, fusing landscape with film, performance and body art."
Suspended Fire is included in general admission, which is free for museum members and youth 18 and under every day.
Related Events
- The Films of Ana Mendieta, a lecture on February 23 led by Laura F. Almeida, curatorial fellow of modern & contemporary art. Learn more.
About Ana Mendieta
Ana Mendieta was born in Havana, Cuba, in 1948. She and her sister were sent by their parents to the United States during Operation Peter Pan in 1961, one of many waves of migrants fleeing Fidel Castro’s government. After spending time in orphanages, Mendieta settled in foster homes in Iowa. During her studies at the University of Iowa, Mendieta began experimenting with performance and films, using her body as her medium. The Silueta series (1973–80), a group of drawings, photographs and films in which Mendieta placed silhouettes of her naked body into different landscapes, addresses issues of race, identity and nostalgia for her homeland, all themes central to the artist’s practice. In 1985, Mendieta’s career was cut short by her death. Though her husband, Minimalist sculptor Carl Andre, was acquitted of her murder in 1988, Mendieta’s loss remains controversial to this day.
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