Connecting to the Earth
Sophie Rose, ArtAsiaPacific
March 2019
It is a well-trodden argument to say that Ana Mendieta’s work is about the body, yet her solo exhibition at the Institute of Modern Art in Brisbane, “Connecting to the Earth,” only once depicted the artist herself. For the most part, what one actually observed were the elements of landscape—mud, ice, fire and water—stamped with Mendieta’s body. Curated by Susan Best, this modest exhibition brought together two series by the late Cuban-American artist: eight photographs and one super-8 film from the “Silueta” series that were produced in Iowa (1976–78), and ten photographs from the later “Rupestrian” series (1982). […]