Anima, Silueta de Cohetes (Firework Piece)

1976

Anima, Silueta de Cohetes (Firework Piece), 1976. Ana Mendieta (American, b. Cuba, 1948–1985). Super-8mm film transferred to high-definition digital media, color, silent, 2:23 minutes; The Cleveland Museum of Art, Dorothea Wright Hamilton Fund 2020.263 © The Estate of Ana Mendieta Collection, LLC. Courtesy Galerie Lelong & Co. / Licensed by Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York In this work, Ana Mendieta creates a monumental female figure from lit fireworks, and she films the burning silhouette until it extinguishes. Combining elements of performance, installation art, video, and photography, this "earth body" work, as the artist describes it, is part of Mendieta's Silueta series. The Siluetas were groundbreaking contributions to the Land Art movement, largely dominated by male artists. As the film opens, the dark night is broken by a series of small explosions that form the silhouette and burn out slowly. The imagery is a metaphor for the passage of time and self-transformation, deeply personal themes for the artist. Mendieta created nearly 80 films in her Silueta series between 1973 and 1985, making her one of the most prolific artists to take up the medium at this time.