Ana Mendieta's Experimental Films Revealed at Galerie Lelong

Galerie Lelong in New York presented fifteen experimental films by Ana Mendieta from February 5 to March 26, 2016, with nine works previously unseen. Created between 1971 and 1975, these pieces were digitally transferred from original formats. The exhibition featured Sweating Blood (1973), where Mendieta's face appears to bleed, and Dripwall (1973), showing red liquid leaking from a white wall. Moffitt Building Piece (1973) responded to the murder of Sarah Ann Ottens at the University of Iowa, using animal blood on a sidewalk. Mendieta produced many films while living in Iowa after being exiled from Cuba at age twelve. She earned two MFAs at the University of Iowa from 1969 to 1977 before moving to New York in 1978. The show included photographs and ephemera from Mendieta's Estate, such as film reels and notebooks. Blood in her work connected to Catholicism and Santería, serving as an empowering force rather than abjection. Dog (1974), filmed in San Felipe, Oaxaca, Mexico, depicted Mendieta crawling in a fur skin. The exhibition highlighted her exploration of body, performance, and outsider identity through visceral imagery.