Ana Mendieta, Imagen de Yagul, 1973

This piece by Ana Mendieta is a part of a series of photographs she took in Mexico in which she used her own body to create the subject matter. This photograph in particular shows the femininity of the artist, as well as her unavailability to the viewer. The conservative placement of the flora wrapping around her nude body censor any erotic imagery such as breasts or genitalia. She’s not laying in any seductive manner, and you can’t see her face, so you can’t read her emotions. In fact, she is posed rather rigid and cold, almost as if she is dead and the flowers have begun to grow around her corpse. There is nothing sexual about this photograph even though she is naked. She’s nude, but she’s not seductive, or provocative, she’s one with nature and the flora that is surrounding her. She could also be a woman that’s trapped in a web of social expectations. Some of these expectations that this flora could represent are feminine qualities and delicacy. However, I think that this piece is about reclaiming her body as a woman and saying, “it’s just a body. Yes, it’s my naked body and I’m a woman, but that doesn’t mean there’s anything sexual here.”









https://www.sfmoma.org/artwork/93.220/

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