Artworks

Deeply affected by her exile from Cuba to the United States at just 12 years old, Mendieta made several highly anticipated returns to Cuba two decades later. She was the first exiled artist officially recognized by the Cuban Ministry of Culture to practice within its borders. Following the completion of her now well-known Silueta Series (1973–80), the artist’s works in Cuba demonstrate an evolving, more sculpturally-inclined practice as well as her increasing comfort with working on a grander scale. This work was made in Guanabo, where Mendieta worked in sand, building on earlier creations made in the United States. Mendieta’s works in Guanabo and Varadero remain largely untitled but, like the Jaruco series, they draw from indigenous Cuban culture and pre-Columbian myths to (re)inscribe archetypal female forms within the landscape.