Maker/Artist

Mendieta, Ana

Cuban-American sculptor and performance artist, 1948-1985

Mendieta was born in Cuba but sent to America by her parents at age 13. She lived in foster homes and orphanages for the rest of her childhood. She received her MA in 1972 from the University of Iowa. In the 1970s, she began making 'earth-body sculptures,' employing primitive materials such as blood, earth, fire, and water. She documented her performances, which incorporated aspects of religion and magic, with photographs. In 1983, she went to Rome on an American Academy Fellowship. In 1985, her husband, the Minimalist sculptor Carl Andre, was charged with her death but acquitted.

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