Ana Mendieta at the Hayward

In my last, last post, I added some pictures of my studio area: one of the photos shows two postcards that are currently sat on my mini desk. I bought them a couple of weeks ago when I was home (Essex home; proper home) for a birthday party and some gallery time. I ended up going to the Hayward with my lovely mummy, where there's an Ana Mendieta retrospective exhibition at the moment.

I've admired her work since I discovered her at college. We went on a class trip to Paris, where we of course visited the Pompidou Centre. I remember seeing a video projection of a naked woman, holding a flapping, headless chicken by its feet and I guess the rest is history. Out of context (or even in context) that might sound a bit scary. Really, the bulk of Mendieta's work is centered around leaving an imprint - a human imprint - on the land and a union between body and earth. Her Silueta series is a good demonstration of this.

Silueta Works in Mexico, 1973-77 (Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles)

The exhibition shows off her repertoire brilliantly - most of the presentation is photographic (as a lot of her work was outdoors and site specific, so documentation is really the only record) but there were some wood sculptures/carvings and lots of videos I'd not seen. There is also a timeline of her work in the final room, with vitrines filled with personal writings and contact sheets, showing her photographic selections. There were some framed leaves that she'd made small drawings on - I thought they were beautifully sensitive. Some of her more simplistic, symbolic drawings/marks hold thoughts about Mayan goddesses - all beautiful to see.

I even got to see the video with the chicken again.

The exhibition runs until the 15th December, so go take a look.