Object Details
- Artist
- Ana Mendieta, born Havana, Cuba 1948-died New York City 1985
- Gallery Label
- This three-minute film captures a performance by the artist in a darkened space. As Ana Mendieta remains still and expressionless, drops of blood-red moisture, at first difficult to perceive, slowly accumulate along her brow, then pool and trickle down her face.
- For Mendieta, blood is a powerful symbol. Used across Catholic, Caribbean Santería, and pre-Columbian spiritual practices, it can evoke life as well as death. Sweating Blood is among a group of works the artist made in the wake of the rape and murder of a woman on the campus of the University of Iowa, where Mendieta was a student at the time. Both the sacred potential and violent implications of blood are suggested in this confrontational yet ambiguous performance.
- Credit Line
- Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through the American Women's History Initiative Acquisitions Pool, Administered through the Smithsonian American Women's History Initiative
- Copyright
- © The Estate of Ana Mendieta Collection LLC. Courtesy Galerie Lelong & Co. Licensed by Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY
- 1973
- Object number
- 2021.38
- Restrictions & Rights
- Usage conditions apply
- Type
- Media Arts
- Medium
- single channel, super-8mm film transferred to high-definition digital media, color, silent; 03:18 minutes
- See more items in
- Smithsonian American Art Museum Collection
- Department
- Time-Based Media Art
- On View
- Smithsonian American Art Museum, 3rd Floor, North Wing
- Smithsonian American Art Museum
- Topic
- Figure female
- Record ID
- saam_2021.38
- GUID (Link to Original Record)
- http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/vk7afdd1c2e-eade-4efc-85e8-d5e3d8dc7086
