ANA MENDIETA / COVERED IN TIME AND HISTORY
2017-06-18 – 2017-10-22
The exhibition is the largest presentation of works by Mendieta in Sweden to date, featuring 21 films as well as a selection of photographs, drawings, prints, and objects.

During her brief yet prolific career, Mendieta created groundbreaking work that made her a pioneer among artists dealing with identity politics and feminism. Covered in Time and History is an extended version of the original exhibition that debuted at the Katherine E. Nash Gallery, University of Minnesota in 2015, where it was curated by Lynn Lukkas, Chair of the Department of Art, and Howard Oransky, Director of the Nash Gallery. The presentation at Bildmuseet has been supplemented with works from The Estate of Ana Mendieta Collection and Galerie Lelong including photographs from the Rupestrian Series, archival materials, and film ephemera.

Blood, fire, earth, water and her own body – Ana Mendieta’s poetic and striking works from the 1970s and 1980s are a delicate balancing act between vulnerability and strength. Bildmuseet presents her captivating oeuvre through 21 films as well as a selection of photographs, graphic works and objects. Ana Mendieta / Covered in Time and History at Bildmuseet is the largest presentation of Mendieta’s artistry shown in Sweden to date.

During her brief career, Anna Mendieta (1948-1985) was astoundingly prolific.
Gender and identity were recurring themes in her art, as well as metaphors for life and death, trauma and exile. She was influenced by many of the movements of her day – earth art, conceptual art, performance and feminism – but her particular merging of art forms stands as a unique and innovative artistic expression.

Ana Mendieta (1948-1985) grew up in Cuba and in the United States. After studying art in Iowa, she moved to New York, where she was active until her untimely death at the age of 36. Following her death, Ana Mendieta’s artistry was presented in solo shows around the world, including exhibitions at the Whitney Museum, New York; Tapiés Foundation, Barcelona; Hayward Gallery, London; and Berkeley Art Museum.

Her work has also been displayed in important group shows such as WACK! Art and the Feminist Revolution, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; Haunted: Contemporary Photography / Video / Performance, Guggenheim, New York; Ends of the Earth: Land Art to 1974, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; and A Bigger Splash: Painting After Performance, Tate Modern, London.

Ana Mendieta / Covered in Time and History at Bildmuseet is an extended version of an exhibition produced by the Katherine E. Nash Gallery at the University of Minnesota. For Bildmuseet, it has been supplemented with works from The Estate of Ana Mendieta Collection and Galerie Lelong, New York/Paris. Our thanks to Barbro Osher Pro Suecia Foundation.

The exhibition is the result of three years of collaborative research into Mendieta’s moving image practice conducted by the University of Minnesota,
the Estate of Ana Mendieta, and Galerie Lelong. It features re-mastered filmworks by the late artist that are newly transferred to digital formats by the Estate of Ana Mendieta Collection, including Sweating Blood (1973), Creek (1974), Untitled: Silueta Series (1978), and Volcán (1979). Covered in Time and History will travel to the Institute for Contemporary Art, Virginia Commonwealth University in 2018. The exhibition catalogue was awarded First Prize in the 2016 Museum Publications Design Competition from the American Alliance of Museums.

Our thanks to The Estate of Ana Mendieta Collection and Galerie Lelong, New York/Paris, and to Barbro Osher Pro Suecia Foundation.

https://spottedcouchartcrimeblog.com/2014/02/21/the-deathly-siluetas-of-ana-mendieta/