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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
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Artwork Details
- Title
- Sweating Blood
- Artist
- Date
- 1973
- Location
- 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.
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