Ana Mendieta: Traces of Life

Arbol de la Vita (1970).

Whoever is familiar with Hermann Hesse’s book Pictor's Metamorphoses will see immediately the relationship between the human being and the earth, and will quickly relate it to the Cuban artist Ana Mendieta (1948–1985), the creator of "earth-body."

Although her career short -- she died at the early age of 37 by falling from the window of the 34^th-floor-apartment in New York where she was living with her husband the artist Carl Andre --  Mendieta left a prolific amount of work.

By joining human features like blood and primary elements such as fire, water, and earth, she creates a unique language which is provocative, impacting, and at the same time intimate and engaging.

Mendieta was born into a politically active Catholic family in Havana under Fidel Castro’s regime. Immediately before her thirteenth birthday, she was sent with her sister to America, where she studied art in Iowa.

The pain and the separation from her country created a cultural displacement and exile inside her that she used and developed in her creative process, which she named "earth-body." She perceived this separation from the family (she rejoined her family in Havana after 18 years) as a sort of orphanhood and used this suffering as a driving force for her art -- opening a dialogue between the landscape and her own body. This dialogue was the main component of her work and is present in all her oeuvre.

Her performances and sculptures are a combination of the Afro-Cuban ritual santería and a metaphor of death, life, rebirth, and spiritual transformation. Always interested in themes such as identity, female violence, displacement, and physical transformation, Mendieta created work such as Rape Scene (1973), a documentation with slides of violent crime, using her own body and her own apartment. Inspired by santería, a Yoruban-Christian religion practiced in Cuba, as well as by her Roman Catholic education, Mendieta used ox blood in her actions and performances to create stains of her body, to trace the contour of her body or create an image of her body, as in the work Untitled (Self-portrait with Blood) (1973). She stated that the blood was not a negative force.

Alongside her interest for the Afro-Cuban spiritual ritual, Mendieta was interested in ancient and indigenous cultures. Witnesses of these interests are works such as Bird Transformation (1972), a performance concerning transmutation in which she is naked and her body is completely covered with feathers.

Tulika Ladsariya: Chronicling the Art of Labor

Bricks, 2012, Enamel and Ink on brick

A former banker who found herself inexorably migrating into the world of art, Chicago-based Indian artist, Tulika Ladsariya focuses her artistic lens on exploring the dynamics of labor, language, and literacy through her paintings and sculptures. She describes her paintings as a social commentary on the division of society through the iconography of labor, whereas Tulika's installations are derived from familiar construction materials procured from her surroundings; this enables her to empathize with the workforce that she depicts and thus, think of art as labor.

Vibrant, textured, and punctuated with layers and meanings, Tulika's work takes the viewer into the landscapes and mindscapes that the laborers inhabit. Here she talks to Her Blueprint about the scope of her creative voyage so far.

What initially attracted you towards art? What compels you to keep on creating?
 I started my career working in portfolio management for a multi-national bank. However, I am a very visual person: I see and think in images and color. I enjoy working with my hands, philosophizing and questioning. To that end, a short sabbatical to study art in London turned into a lifelong career.

Many things compel me to create: the love of what I do, the need to make a difference through my art, the fear of obscurity,and the security of what I have renounced to be an artist. It is the desire to give shape to ideas- translating something intangible, like feeling and emotion, into something tangible such as a painting.

Could you take us through a journey of your paintings? How have they evolved in terms of technique and theme? What has remained unchanged? 
My work was initially very influenced by what was around me; specifically, Mumbai, which was in a constant state of disrepair. It then began to engage with the people who build and inhabit it. Some elements of my work are more abstract and others very graphic. The theme has been widening with time, encompassing more of what I feel, rather than merely just what I see. My use of color is one aspect of work which has significantly evolved; even though my palette is still bright and evocative, it has become more balanced over time.

 

Journey by Day, 2010, Mixed Media on Gessobord 'Burden of Dreams' and 'Improbable Elevation' depict realistic figures while 'Palliative Endeavors' is rooted in a much more abstract space. What motivated this transition? What is the essence of 'Palliative Endeavors'? 'Palliative Endeavors' [example from series above] was inspired by the vibrant cityscape. It used geometric shapes and collage to bring together form, texture, and color; it regards the city as a space devoid of humans and the impact of congested living upon the environment. The title of the works refer to my own palliative endeavor to fix the damage inflicted on it through the use of plaster tape [as such used in healing fractures] upon the two-dimensional surface. Moving from the physical space to the people who build and inhabit that space seemed like a natural transition. This gave birth to the series, 'Improbable Elevation' and 'Burden of Dreams' [examples below]. Even my more figurative paintings have elements of texture and abstraction that I weave in and out from.

Graceful Burden (diptych), Acrylic on board, Mixed media on faux brick panel