The tragic death of Ana Mendieta divided the New York art scene, but the Tate reclaims her life’s work this summer
Katie Rosseinsky, Independent
July 2026
My art comes out of rage and displacement,” Ana Mendieta once said. “Although the image may not be a very rageful image, I think all art comes out of sublimated rage.” As far as mission statements go, it is one that still burns with an irresistible intensity – just like her blazing artworks, which seared her silhouette onto the earth. Now, more than four decades on from her early death – a complicated, much-contested tragedy that would go on to divide New York’s art scene – a new Tate Modern exhibition is set to celebrate her striking body of work, featuring pieces never before shown in the UK. And as Mendieta’s life and death inevitably become fodder for the true crime industrial complex, with podcasts such as 2022’s Death of an Artist and an upcoming TV series starring America Ferrera, this retrospective feels like an act of reclamation – of putting her art back at the centre of the story. […]