Untitled (Silueta series) 1978

This is an image from Ana Mendieta’s Silueta series. Imagine her outside, digging into the earth. She’s carved out a form, almost like a grave, but also like a womb. Then, she's filled it with something – is it mud, or earth, or blood? Either way, there's a sense of life and death intertwined in the rich brown colors. It looks thick and heavy, you can feel its weight. It's such a primal act, to work with the earth in this way. I wonder what she was thinking, what she was feeling as she pressed her hands into the soil, shaping this form. Mendieta created this in the 70’s, when land art was just starting, when artists were looking for ways to connect with nature and with their bodies. It is like she's saying something about womanhood, about returning to the earth. Artists are always talking to each other, across time, inspiring each other's creativity. Mendieta’s work reminds us that art isn’t just about what we see, but what we feel, what we remember, what we imagine.