The Divine Feminine in the Art of Ana Mendieta and Clara Menéres

Abstract

Through the work of the artists Ana Mendieta and Clara Menéres, this study highlights actions that flourished in the 1960s and 1970s. It was a period rich in social transformations involving political, gender, racial, cultural and religious issues, which still have repercussions today. These artists fought against the patriarchal shadow still strong at that time, positioning themselves and re-signifying ancestral traditions where the feminine had a leading role linked to fertility, earth, creativity and caring for nature. Thus, one sees the emergence of provocative and transformative works of art with a deep and current meaning based on eco-feminism, as a form of activism, a fight for the rights of feminine sensitivity and vision and the care for nature, which are still so demeaned by capitalist interests and patriarchal exploitation. Based on a qualitative, documental and semiotic methodology, works of the artists were analyzed iconographically, in particular the Siluetas series by Ana Mendieta and Mulher-Terra-Viva by Clara Menéres, in the light of philosophical ideas by authors such as Stengers and Starhawk, the words of the artists themselves, as well as their social and religious contexts. This article aims to shed more light on the mystical side of the artistic work of two Hispanic women from the same era who, having never met, have so much in common and whose relationship deserves to be articulated.