Building Bodies from Nature

What is displacement?
What does displacement feel like?
Who or what experiences displacement?
Where does displacement happen?
When does displacement occur?
How can displacement affect other aspects of life?

WHO: Ana Mendieta

WHEN: 1948-1985

WHAT: Cuban-American Performance and Interdisciplinary Artist

FAMOUS FOR: Best known for her "earth-body" artwork and expressions of identity politics and feminism.

IN HER OWN WORDS: "Art is a material act of culture, but its greatest value is its spiritual role, and that influences society, because it's the greatest contribution to the intellectual and moral development of humanity that can be made."

ARTIST'S HISTORY: Mendieta was born in Havana, Cuba, to a wealthy and politically influential family. At the age of 12, she was sent to the U.S. with her sister under the anti-communist effort of Operation Peter Pan where she was placed in an orphanage in Dubuque, Iowa. In 1966, she began undergraduate studies at the University of Iowa. Later, she enrolled in the university's progressive MFA Intermedia Program founded by Hans Breder and graduated in 1978. After that, Mendieta was exhibiting internationally and moved to New York City. Her powerful, prolific career was cut short by her tragic and allegedly accidental, violent death in 1985.

IOWA CONNECTIONS: Other than New York, Mendieta's experience in the U.S. was defined by her youth and education in Iowa. She spent her formative and exploratory art making years in and around Iowa City where she experimented with her first performances and societal critiques. She also taught elementary art with Iowa City Public Schools for a brief time while she was a graduate student. Despite her short career, Mendieta's influence and inspiration endure in the works of artists worldwide today. As a testament to her legacy, a gallery in the Visual Arts Building at the School of Art and Art History at UIowa permanently bears her name.

ARTIST'S WORK: Reflections on displacement, feminism, violence, and nature appear in Mendiet'as artworks which include video, in-person performances, photographs, and sculptures. One of her most well-known works, Untitled (Siluetas Series), 1976, was a series of photographs of female silhouettes in nature - in mud, sand, and grass - with natural materials ranging from leaves and twigs to blood, and making body prints or painting her outline or silhouette onto a wall. In the examination of her work one is confronted with their own spiritual, temporary, and physical connections to themselves, the earth and others.

ARTIST'S WORLD: Mendieta came of age in what is known as the "second wave" of feminism that focused on women's equal rights in politics, work, family, and sexuality. She was considered a pioneer in performance art which, at the time, was dominated by men. She also bore witness to the displacement and trauma of separation from Cuba that many of the children experienced under the program Operation Peter Pan.

Students will learn about the life and influence of artist Ana Mendieta, who was a prolific interdisciplinary artist who lived and attended school in Iowa.  Using Untitled, from "Silueta Series, Mexico," 1976, as inspiration, students will collaboratively create a life-size human form(s) and sculpture(s) using natural materials (sticks, leaves, rocks, etc.).  Students will work together, outside, and display the completed sculpture(s) outside for others to see.  Students will then complete a discussion or written reflection focused on the advantages and disadvantages of working with others to complete an artwork.

• SS.K.1: Compelling Questions
• SS.K.3: Responses to questions
• SS.K.8: Civics and Government
• SS.K.18: History (Critique)
• SS.1.1: Compelling Questions
• SS.1.4: Conclusions
• SS.1.22: History (Critique)
• SS.2.1: Compelling questions
• SS.2.4: Conclusions
• SS.2.22: History (Critique)
• SS.2.24: History (Natural Resources)
• SS.3.1: Compelling question
• SS.3.5: Conclusions
• SS.3.7: Informed Action
• SS.3.27: History (Immigration and Migration)
• SS.4.2: Supporting questions
• SS.4.3: Evidence
• SS.4.22: History (Critique)
• SS.5.1: Compelling Question
• SS.5.2: Supporting Question
• SS.5.5: Conclusions
• SS.5.20: Geography
• SS.5.23: History (Critique)

Students will analyze and discuss the artwork and life of artist Ana Mendieta and her connections to the state of Iowa and The University of Iowa.;Students will collaboratively create a human form made of natural elements.;Students will complete a discussion or written reflection focused on the advantages and disadvantages of working with others to complete an artwork.