ANA MENDIETA: SILUETAS Y GESTOS
Aurora Picture Show, The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Center for the Arts, and the Blaffer Art Museum at the University of Houston co-present outdoor screenings of rarely seen films by artist Ana Mendieta and an online conversation about her work and impact. Curator: Mary Magsamen
OUTDOOR SCREENINGS: ANA MENDIETA: SILUETAS Y GESTOS
Tuesday, May 25 & Wednesday, May 26 (8:30pm)
New Dates: Thursday, May 27 & Friday, May 28 (8:30pm) SOLD OUT
Aurora Picture Show courtyard - 2442 Bartlett Street
Free admission. Advance RSVP required. Masks and distance required at the event.
CONVERSATION: RAQUEL CECILIA MENDIETA WITH SALLY BERGER
Thursday, May 27 (1pm CST)
This online talk featuring Raquel Cecilia Mendieta, niece of the artist and director of Ana Mendieta: Nature Inside, in conversation with noted film curator and author Sally Berger is now available to view at the bottom of this page.
Cuban-American artist Ana Mendieta (1948-1985) made numerous films in dialogue with her pioneering performance, sculptural, and photographic work. Mendieta’s art is strongly autobiographical and focuses on issues surrounding identity, sexuality, spirituality, feminism, and cultural displacement. This program presents 10 films made 1974-81, each documenting performances using her body, land, and organic materials such as bird feathers, air, fire, water, and earth. Several of the films included are from Mendieta’s influential Silueta series. The program also includes the short documentary Ana Mendieta, Nature Inside by the artist’s niece, Raquel Cecilia Mendieta. There will be an online conversation with Raquel Cecilia Mendieta and renowned film curator Sally Berger on Thursday afternoon, and two free outdoor screenings of this special program on Thursday and Friday evenings (advance RSVP required).
This program is co-presented by Aurora Picture Show, The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Center for the Arts, and the Blaffer Art Museum at the University of Houston. The films of Ana Mendieta are presented in the larger context of the performance program A Time for Action, running at the Blaffer Museum from May 23 – June 5, 2021. This survey of performance work is organized by invited curators Aisha Tida Abbassi, Outspoken Bean, Rivkah French, Julia Barbosa Landois, Jake Sandridge, and Sixto Wagan and will feature a wide array of experimental interdisciplinary actions. Please visit the series webpage for a schedule and more information.
“I have been carrying out a dialogue between the landscape and the female body. I believe this has been a direct result of my having been torn from my homeland during my adolescence. I am overwhelmed by the feeling of having been cast from the womb. My art is the way I re-establish the bonds that unite me to the universe.” – Ana Mendieta
Program:
Ocean Bird (Washup), 1974, 4:09
Untitled (Mirage), 1974, 3:18
Weather Balloon, Feathered Balloon, 1974, 3:42
Butterfly, 1975, 3:19
Ana Mendieta, Nature Inside, Raquel Cecilia Mendieta, 2015, 8:00
Silueta Sangrienta, 1975, 1:51
Alma, Silueta en Fuego, 1975, 3:07
Anima, Silueta de Cohetes (Firework Piece), 1976, 2:23
Untitled, Silueta Series, 1978, 3:14
Fundamento Palo Monte: Silueta Series (Gunpowder Works), 1980, 5:56
Untitled 1981, Guanabo, La Habana, Cuba