Who is Ana Mendieta?

Ana Mendieta, was a Cuban-American, woman of many talents from being a: artist, painter, sculptor, and video artist. She was most famously known for her "earth-body" artwork. She played an important role in society, as she was a feminist and expressed female identity through, photography, film, and sculpting and express important things like violence and sexuality.

I love the image above. It's interesting to look at because it seems as if the grass is growing from the body. I also think about how then people say things can grow off dead bodies but I am not sure if that is true but it does represent that. This image is telling me that whether dead or alive all things grow. I am also curious to know if she placed the model on already grown flowers or if she picked them and placed them in between her body. She used this image to represent art being taken back into nature. Overall, I think this image is a great depiction of the cycle of life. 

Coming from Cuba and having to escape because of the politics, really helped shape how she became so political with her work. One of the reasons she focused primarily on violence against women was being when she was at college, a fellow student was raped; she took this as a chance to invite people to become more aware of what happens to women and to hopefully incite a change in the treatment of women. Because nature is the source of everything, I think that's why she keeps going back to that idea of how our energy is grounded around it and so is everything that we do. All of her work comes from her anger and displacement, in hopes of establishing her bond with earth and nature.