Copied
Ana Mendieta, Sweating Blood, 1973, single channel, super-8mm film transferred to high-definition digital media, color, silent; 03:18 minutes, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through the American Women’s History Initiative Acquisitions Pool, Administered through the Smithsonian American Women’s History Initiative, 2021.38, © The Estate of Ana Mendieta Collection LLC. Courtesy Galerie Lelong & Co. Licensed by Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY
Copied
Artwork Details
- Title
- Sweating Blood
- Artist
- Date
- 1973
- Location
- Not on view
- Copyright
- © The Estate of Ana Mendieta Collection LLC. Courtesy Galerie Lelong & Co. Licensed by Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY
- Credit Line
- Museum purchase through the American Women’s History Initiative Acquisitions Pool, Administered through the Smithsonian American Women’s History Initiative
- Mediums
- Mediums Description
- single channel, super-8mm film transferred to high-definition digital media, color, silent; 03:18 minutes
- Classifications
- Subjects
- Figure female
- Object Number
- 2021.38
Artwork Description
This three-minute film captures a performance by the artist in a darkened space. As Ana Mendieta remains still and expressionless, drops of blood-red moisture, at first difficult to perceive, slowly accumulate along her brow, then pool and trickle down her face.
For Mendieta, blood is a powerful symbol. Used across Catholic, Caribbean Santería, and pre-Columbian spiritual practices, it can evoke life as well as death. Sweating Blood is among a group of works the artist made in the wake of the rape and murder of a woman on the campus of the University of Iowa, where Mendieta was a student at the time. Both the sacred potential and violent implications of blood are suggested in this confrontational yet ambiguous performance.
Related Posts
Learn about the legacy of groundbreaking artist Ana Mendieta and how she examined urgent political, personal, and artistic questions through her artwork
Saisha Grayson
Curator of Time-Based Media