Brilliant, moving and inspirational to visit the Hayward for the first solo retrospective in the UK of one of my most influential and admired artists, Ana Mendieta. I first saw her work at the Whitechapel in Inside the Visible in the late 90's whilst studying Fine Art (Sound & Image) at Bath Spa, wrote my dissertation 'The Rite Experience of Art' exploring work by Mendieta and other artists (Laib, Viola, Beuys), and have returned to her deeply touching body of work over and over during the last couple of years of my PhD studies. So it was fabulous to see some of the work I had encountered as solo pieces or perhaps one of two or three in museum collections around the world, brought together, some shown as she had herself exhibited it in her lifetime, and also to encounter many more works for the first time.
Some interesting and well-proportioned texts and contextualisation in the exhibition and its accompanying catalogue. I've been pleased to note the shift over the past 15 years of how her work is positioned by critics, moving beyond the political displacement of her youth to give far greater acknowledgement of the spiritual and shamanic exploration and the ancient connections embodied with the land.
The exhibition is on for another 2 weeks: http://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/whatson/festivals-series/ana-mendieta
And Dayanita Singh's photographic/book/teak 'Libraries' in Go Away Closer are well worth a visit, too.
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