Ana Mendieta

Tree of Life, 1976, color photo, 2" x 13," Hayward, London

The Tree of Life performance was photographed in 1976 and recently displayed in London.  The form of a woman presses into a tree trunk, blending into it.  She stands naked, covered with mud and straw, her arms raised, palms open.  The body completely open and vulnerable joins with the tree and with the earth.  The calm yet frank pose of a small figure contrasts to the gigantic tree.  Seeking shelter in its embrace or submitting to the power of nature and the earth, vulnerability and  gender blend as the brown body leans into the tree.   The tree dominates the picture but the woman's brown color and rough skin texture create balance and harmony.

Ana Mendieta, born in 1948, was wife of Carl Andre for 8 months before she fell to her death from her NY apt.  Her husband, quoted as saying that during an argument she “went out the window,” was tried for murder.  He was acquitted after a 3 yr trial.  They were a high energy couple who ran with the Avant Gard crowd in Greenwich Village, partied and drank a bit too much.  The art world, drastically divided over the death, behaved dramatically.  On the opening of the murder trial emotionally charged posters were plastered all over Soho soliciting witnesses for the prosecution and a retrospective of Ana’s work opened at the New Museum of Contemporary Art in Soho.  In retaliation the word SUICIDE was scrawled on the sidewalk in front of the museum.  None of the perpetrators were ever discovered. 

Nytimes.com, Artnews, Jan 2014, p108.