Ana Mendieta Earth-body Sculpture: exile, identity and transcendence

Ana Mendieta (1948-1985) was one of the most extraordinary artists of the twentieth century. She developed new forms of performance and earth art before her tragic death at the age of only 36. Tate Modern will be holding a major retrospective of her work in the summer 2026.

Mendieta was born in Cuba but was sent to the USA by her parents after the Cuban revolution. Exiled in the USA she grew up an orphan in an alien culture. Mendieta’s early work expressed her experiences through performance art that challenged gender stereotypes and confronted the audience with body norms and the reality of sexual violence. Her later work also tackles themes of ecology and colonialism.

Mendieta used her own body to perform rituals that explored our connections with the earth. In her classic Silueta series of earth sculptures she created earth art, based on her body form in many remote places. These temporary sculptures are made out of flowers, mud, or ice, and vanish over time but are recorded in the form of photographs and videos taken at the time they were made. Her work forces us to think about our relationship to the earth, ecology and the cycle of life and death. Both challenging and profound few artists have succeeded in creating such powerful and ultimately life-affirming art. 

Lecturer: Colin Pink

Colin Pink is a writer and art historian. He has degrees in both philosophy and art history. He specialises in twentieth century art in Europe and North America with a wide range of individual lectures and two study days, one on German Art 1905-1945 and one on Art in the USA 1940-1970 from Abstract Expressionism to Pop and Minimalist Art. He also has a special interest in the interrelationship between the history of ideas and the history of art. He lectures on modern art for Morley College London.

He is also a playwright and poet. His plays have been performed in London, New York City and Berlin and he wrote the multi-award winning short film Touch. He has published two full-length books of poetry (Acrobats of Sound 2016 and Typicity 2021) and two pamphlets (The Ventriloquist Dummy’s Lament 2019 and Wreck of the Jeanne Gougy 2021) in collaboration with the artist Daniel Goodwin.

Date: Tuesday 16th March 2027
Time: 2.30pm - Please arrive a little earlier to be seated.
Venue: Firstsite, Lewis Gardens, High Street, Colchester, Essex, CO1 1JH.

Guest tickets will be available to book in the New Year