Cinema
Ana Mendieta: En Cuba cuando mueres, la tierra que nos cubre habla…
Projections and discussions with Raquel Cecilia Mendieta, Howard Oransky and Elvan Zabunyan
Tuesday 16 October 2018 • 7:00 PM
Jeu de Paume – Paris
This event will consider Ana Mendieta’s relation to her homeland, Cuba, which she left for the United States in 1961, at the age of twelve. In 1980 she returned to the country for the first time to visit her family and explore. The following year, the artist made a series of rock sculptures and films in which she drew figures in caves and in the sand, as if trying to engrave in the land the traces of her presence and her home.
This evening presents for the first time two films Mendieta made in Cuba as well as a preview of Whispering Cave, the documentary film made by Raquel Cecilia Mendieta, the artist’s niece.
After these screenings, Raquel Cecilia Mendieta, Howard Oransky and Elvan Zabunyan will discuss Ana Mendieta’s work and its historical and artistic context.
PROGRAMME
— Untitled by Ana Mendieta (cat. no. 88) Cuba, Varadero, Matanzas, 1981, Super 8mm film transferred to digital HD, black and white, silent, 3’.
— Untitled by Ana Mendieta (Cat. no. 100) Cuba, Guanabo, Havana, 1981, Super 8mm film transferred to digital HD, black and white, silent, 3’.
— Whispering Cave by Raquel Cecilia Mendieta 2018, 27’ (English, French subtitles).
In 1981, Ana Mendieta created several sculptures in the caves at Jaruco, Cuba, on two different sites. It was thought that one of them was later destroyed. However, visiting Jaruco in 2015, Raquel Cecilia, the artist’s niece, discovered evidence to suggest the contrary. Following her intuition, she returned to Jaruco two years later in the hope of finding the spot again. With the help of two Cuban artists, the director of the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes in Havana and her daughter, Raquel Cecilia combed the Cuban countryside looking for the lost site. Using her aunt’s original Super 8 sequences and photos, she retraced the artist’s own explorations in the attempt to relocate her heritage.
“En Cuba cuando mueres, la tierra que nos cubre habla…” (In Cuba, when you die, the earth that covers you speaks): screenings and discussion of the work of Ana Mendieta with Raquel Cecilia Mendieta, Howard Oransky and Elvan Zabunyan. Tuesday 16 October 2018 at 7 pm.
The projections will be followed by a discussion with Raquel Cecilia Mendieta, filmmaker and associate administrator of the Estate of Ana Mendieta Collection, Howard Oransky, curator of the exhibition, and art historian and critic Elvan Zabunyan.
Information: infoauditorium@jeudepaume.org