Where is Ana Mendieta?

: Identity, Performativity, and Exile by Jane Blocker

Review by: Jane Desmond
NWIG: New West Indian Guide / Nieuwe West-Indische Gids, Vol. 75, No. 1/2 (2001), pp. 128-
130
Published by: BRILL on behalf of the KITLV, Royal Netherlands Institute of Southeast Asian and
Caribbean Studies
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128 NewWest Gidsvol.75no.1 & 2 (2001)
IndianGuide/NieuweWest-Indische

Cabrera,Lydia,1992.El monte: vititi

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ydelpueblode
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1947.]
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Whereis Ana Mendieta?:Identity and Exile. JaneBlocker.

, Performativity,
DurhamNC: Duke University Press,1999. xvi + 166 pp. (ClothUS$ 49.95,
PaperUS$ 17.95)

JaneDesmond
AmericanStudies
Department
ofIowa
University
IowaCityIA 52242,U.S.A.
<[email protected]>

Cuban-bornartistAna Mendieta'slifeand worksformtheimpetusforthis

carefullycraftedyetultimatelyunderhistoricized book by arthistorianJane
Blocker.Mendietastagedpowerful, evocative imagesusingearth,sand,fire,
water,flowers,and herown,often-nude, body.As a youngadolescentfrom
themostelitestratum of Cuban society,Mendietaimmigrated to theUnited
in
States 1961 as partof "Operation Pedro Pan" - thepost-Revolution reset-
tlingof Cuban childrensponsoredby U.S. corporations with the assistance
oftheCatholicChurchandtheStateDepartment. She was raisedin Iowa and
educatedin visual artsat theUniversity Iowa, and producedmostof her
of
worksinIowa, New York,andMexico fromtheearly1970suntilheruntime-
ly and suspiciousdeathin New Yorkin 1985.
Mendieta'sworksinvestigatedmanyof thç key aestheticand political
issuesof the1970s avant-garde,whentheprimacyof paintingand sculpture
gave way to theanti-object,anti-commodification initiativesof earthworks
and theembodiedartexplorationsof performance like ChrisBurden
artists

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 BookReviews 129

andCarolee Schneemann.Mendieta'sworkswereusuallytransient, site-spe-

cificpiecesinvolvingimagesofthefemaleform,oftenmarkedbytheresidue
of burntash or thedematerializing effectsof waves on sculptedsand. Like
muchperformance and conceptualartof thetime,thesepieces wereactually
seen by fewpeople butbecameknownto a widerpublicthrough photodoc-
umentation. Many of the photos are included in thisbook, and the powerof
the images,withtheirtracingsof femalebody images on leaf or stone,or
burntintothegrass,comes through even in smallblack and whitereproduc-
tions.Mendietais an artistto be reckonedwith.
JaneBlocker'sgoal in Whereis Ana Mendieta?is to takeup thechallenge
of writingabout such elusive artworksand, more particularly, to place
Mendietahistorically in a way thatilluminates whatBlockersees as thecon-
stitutivetensionsand contradictions in herartwork.She dividesherdiscus-
sions into five chaptersfocusedaroundconceptualissues and Mendieta's
artist'smaterials:Fire,Earth,Exile,Travel,andBody.Detaileddiscussionsof
individualartworksanchoreach chapter.Findingpreviouscriticalassess-
mentsof Mendieta'sworktoo simplisticforeitheressentializing heridentity
or accusingherofessentialism, Blockeroffersa newapproachbydrawingon
theoriesof performativity developedby criticssuchas JudithButler.Butler
suggeststhatcategoriesof social identity are activatedthrough therepetition
and mis-repetition of semioticallymarkedactionsthatgain theirmeanings
throughreferenceto pre-existing codes of signification shotthroughwith
power.
Blocker'sapproachenablesherto interpret theartworks as rhetoricalacts
ratherthanas artobjects. She assertsthatMendietamobilizespotentially
essentializingdichotomies(nature/culture, home/exile, earth/nation,female/
male,white/non- white)preciselyto unsettlesuchdichotomiesby rendering
thembothfamiliarand uncannyat thesame time.
The performative approachis partof the book's strength, enablingthe
authorto movefroman analysisof selectedworkstobroaderissuesofhome,
exile, and nation.But,despitethisreach,theanalysesremainparadoxically
hermetic.Withtheexceptionof some reportsof critics'interpretations, we
hearalmostnothingaboutthereceptionof theseworks:How did heraudi-
ences reactto them?Did theyinfluenceotherartists?Instead,meaningsare
read offtheartworksthemselves,througha criticalapproachto Mendieta's
ownwritings, andthrough a consideration ofMendieta'slife(and publicself-
presentation) as a Cuban exile.
WhileBlockerattempts toputtheseelementsintoa dynamicinterplay, her
effortsare hamperedby an over-relianceon criticslike Edward Said and
Homi Bhabha formodels of nation,identity, and exile. As usefulas these
modelsare,theyneedto be broughtintoconversation withthespecificracial
and class dynamicsof the distinctivewaves of Cuban migrationsto the
United States in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, the period duringwhich

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130 NewWest Gidsvol.75no.1 & 2 (2001)
IndianGuide/NieuweWest-Indische

Mendietalivedand workedin theUnitedStates.Also illuminating wouldbe

moreextensivediscussionof parallelsand distinctions betweenMendieta's
workand thatof otherCaribbeanor LatinAmericanartistsworkingin the
UnitedStatesat thesame time.
The importance ofsuchspecificity is especiallyapparentin Blocker'sdis-
cussionof theracial dynamicsof theworks.She tracesMendieta'sjourney
froma privileged(by class and Europeanorigin)positionin Cuba to a U.S.
experiencewithracismwhichled herto see herselfas otherssaw her,"non-
white,"and to embracetheterm"ThirdWorldWoman."This embraceof re-
positioning, and Mendieta'spro-active,anti-racist manipulationof U.S. cat-
egoriesis important. However,to fullyunderstand theconditionsofreception
of her work(and of herselfas a ThirdWorldwoman artistin the United
States),we mustbettergraspnotonlytheracial and class dynamicsof the
Cuba sheleft,butalso thecomplicatedracialcalibrations withinandbetween
immigrant communities. The social statusand powerof Cuban immigrants
fromthat1960s wave is important hereand becomes maskedby thecapa-
ciousnessof theterm"non-white."
Blocker'sextendedreadingof Mendieta'suse of "La VenusNegra"(The
Black Venus) legend,whichcloses the book, especiallywould have been
strengthened by a morehistorically anchoreddiscussion.Her statement that
"Mendieta'schoiceto associateherselfwiththeVenusNegra,withthenative
Indian,is a typicalstrategy by whichLatinosdefinetheiridentitiesrelative
to theproblematicsof race,politics,and nationhood"(p. 128) indicatesthe
difficultyof thisterrain.A color line is alive and well in Cuba, and among
Cuban-Americans,and is differently constructedfromthatin otherLatin
AmericancountrieslikeMexico.
Whatis therelevanceofthisbookto a potentialaudiencebeyondthepub-
lisher's"feminist/performance studies"designation?How can we place this
book in conversationwithotherbooks on Cuba, or on Caribbeanimmigra-
tion,or Cuban-Americans,or women'shistory? And conversely, whatrele-
vancemightsuchstudieshaveforarthistorians likeBlockerwhowantto take
Untilwe figureoutbetterwaysto encourage
up issues of exile and identity?
such intellectualdialogues, social science studiesof migrationwill most
probablycontinueto ignorethepowerofworklikeMendieta'sand artanaly-
ses will remainobject-bound,even when those objects are always in the
processof disappearing.

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