Date of Award
Spring 5-13-2011
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
Department
Art and Design
First Advisor
Dr. Susan Richmond
Second Advisor
Dr. Kimberly Cleveland
Third Advisor
Dr. Maria Gindhart
Abstract
Artist Ana Mendieta frequently conjoined the female body with nature to express her search for personal identity and support for feminist topics. Her last intended and least scholarly examined work, La Maja de Yerba (Grass Goddess), continues specific visual and thematic elements of her previous Silueta Series (Silhouette) yet also presents an aesthetically unique creation. Despite its incompletion as a result of her premature death, the preserved maquette directly stipulates a female form to be planted in grass on the Bard College campus grounds. This alignment of women and nature garners criticism for its reliance on universalism and categorizations of women’s experiences; however, Mendieta’s use of essentialism in public art contributes to circulating feminist discourse to a wider audience. This paper considers the artistic influences, thematic concepts, and employment of strategic essentialism in Mendieta’s La Maja de Yerba.
DOI
https://doi.org/10.57709/1948353
Recommended Citation
Hudson, Michelle L., "Beyond Self: Strategic Essentialism in Ana Mendieta's "La Maja de Yerba"." Thesis, Georgia State University, 2011.
doi: https://doi.org/10.57709/1948353