Ana Mendieta

The UK's first retrospective of one of the most significant yet unacknowledged artists of the late 20th century.

In addition to films, sculptures, photographs, drawings, personal writings and notebooks, an extensive research room with hundreds of photographic slides will give unique access to works Ana Mendieta could never show during her short life.

Cuban-born American artist Ana Mendieta (1948-1985) was sent from her native homeland to an orphanage in Iowa at the age of 12 and dedicated her entire life to the search for her origins and identity. In her work, she left haunting traces of her body fashioned from flowers, tree branches, mud, rocks, sand, gunpowder, and fire. Her fragile yet powerful works speak of the desire to connect with the earth and to explore a mythical relationship with nature. Mendieta's works are rooted in cathartic exercises, relieving the pain of the trauma of an early exile.