Teach with Collections: Ana Mendieta, Untitled (Glass on Body Imprints – Face)

In her documented performance, Mendieta pressed a piece of glass against her face and different areas of her naked body to complete a series of thirty-six slides. She later selected thirteen slides featuring her face to be printed as black-and-white photographs, including this work. The hauntingly close views of Mendieta's features, which appear as if deformed, convey a sense of alienation and challenge the viewer to decipher her altered facial attributes. The works are among Mendieta's earliest experiments with body art and affirm control as much as they bemoan the violent pressure and resulting discomfort the protagonist inflicted upon herself. In her strikingly modern reinterpretation of the grotesque, Mendieta embraced the disquieting force of deformity as a commentary against the societal biases she had experienced as a Cuban American female artist.

Conversation prompts: How do we define the grotesque and how has this definition shifted over time? Why might Mendieta's features appear deformed to us?

What is the significance of this work as a performance captured through a series of photographs?

Many art historians read Mendieta's work as a commentary against the societal biases she had experienced as a Cuban American female artist. Which details in the work support or challenge this interpretation?