Sweating Blood

Copied 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

Artwork Details

Title
Sweating Blood
Artist
Date
1973
Location
Not on view
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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