Presentation: Ana Mendieta

Ana Mendieta was born in Havana, Cuba on November 18, 1948. (Fun fact: my birthday is November 17). However, at the age of 12, she and her sister were then sent to the United States as refugees. Their parents believed that this was in their best interest in order to escape the dictatorship of Fidel Castro. Operation Peter Pan was a program for unaccompanied minors to migrate from Cuba to the US. With this program, Ana and her sister were able to migrate to Florida and then Iowa where they were placed in foster homes. Their mother and brother eventually reunited with them in Iowa. But, their father was reunited after spending about a decade in a political prison. 

Being torn apart from her homeland and family and forced to make it on her own in a different country, made Mendieta's childhood quite traumatizing. However, she did not take it as a setback. Instead, Mendieta decided to express these feelings and experiences through her art. She is known as a performance artist, sculpture artist, painter, and video artist. It was in college where she developed an interest for spiritual and religious topics which became the central focus of her art. Her artwork also focuses on violence towards women. She graduated from the University of Iowa with a BA and MA in painting and a MFA in intermedia. Generally, her artwork was autobiographical or in response to a situation.

Mendieta died in New York City, New York on September 8, 1985. She was only 36 years old and she was doing really well in her career as an artist. Her death became controversial when it was declared an accident or possibly suicide. Mendieta had not shown any signs of suicidal behavior and she was actually quite happy because of how well her career was going. However, her husband, Carl Andre, minimalist artist, was not doing as well. Moments before Mendieta fell 34 floors out of her apartment window and onto her death, neighbors heard the couple arguing. When the police questioned Andre, they noticed fresh scratches on his arms and nose and his statement differed from what he had said on the phone earlier when he called in the "accident". He was charged with second degree murder but after three years of legal proceedings, he was acquitted. Fellow artists and friends of Mendieta retaliated by protesting at Andre's exhibits. There was much uproar over the controversy of her death.