Ana Mendieta would have turned 76 this year, a milestone that brings to mind what new works she might have created and what legacy she would have continued to forge in contemporary art. A current exhibition at Museo Jumex in Mexico City, titled “Siluetas sobre maleza” (“Silhouettes in the Undergrowth”), reflects on the lasting influence of Mendieta’s groundbreaking work and highlights artists who carry forward her vision.
The exhibition assembles six Latin American women artists whose pieces echo themes central to Mendieta’s oeuvre: the intersection of the body with nature, feminism, ecology, and anti-colonialism. Among these artists is Vivian Suter, born just months after Mendieta and carrying a career that contrasts sharply with Mendieta’s tragically truncated one, believed to be the result of a suspected femicide ruled a suicide. This juxtaposition serves as a reminder of the creative potential cut short by violence.
Mendieta, who was born in Cuba in 1948 and later lived in exile in the United States, was renowned for her “Siluetas” series. In these works, she imprinted her body into the land, forming silhouettes as if reconnecting herself to the earth in an attempt to counter her sense of displacement. The exhibition pays homage to this connection between body and earth, inviting viewers to witness how it endures in the work of Suter and others.
Suter, an Argentine artist with Swiss heritage, sets the stage with monumental, unstretched canvases stained with mud and dyes, suspended like garments on a rack. These pieces guide the viewer through the gallery space, weaving through a maze of textures and muted colors. The gallery’s layout suggests movement, compelling visitors to engage with the environment in an active, physical manner.
A powerful centerpiece of the show is Mendieta’s 1975 Super 8 film “Alma Silueta en Fuego” (“Soul Silhouette on Fire”), which depicts a fabric silhouette, shaped like Mendieta’s body with arms outstretched, burning for three minutes in the dirt. The figure’s slow disintegration into ash acts as a poignant metaphor for both the impermanence and resilience of art, echoing themes of transformation, destruction, and rebirth. In the wake of the recent U.S. election, this piece evokes a complex interpretation—a portrait of enduring feminist defiance that continues to blaze even as it turns to ashes.
Other works in the exhibition further explore the dialogue between the personal and the political. Frieda Toranzo Jaeger’s “Times Come to an End” (2021) is a polyptych that reimagines Hieronymus Bosch’s “Garden of Earthly Delights,” transforming it into a depiction of apocalyptic hedonism, with embroidered scenes of pleasure juxtaposed against an orange sky—a symbol of collapse and renewal.
Nohemí Pérez’s charcoal drawings also intertwine macro and micro narratives. Her monumental depictions of the Catatumbo region in Colombia capture the reality of forests ablaze, a reflection of both ecological and human turmoil. Within the smoldering landscape, tiny, almost imperceptible embroideries illustrate scenes of migration, illegal oil extraction, and conflict, symbolizing the devastating impact of these crises. The owls and deer, already marked by soot, serve as haunting reminders that the crisis has escalated beyond the early warnings.
“Siluetas sobre maleza” is not just an exhibition; it’s a testament to the enduring relevance of Ana Mendieta’s legacy and the artists who continue to speak the language of nature, body, and resistance.