In the Picket Family Video Gallery, Floor 2L
Grass Breathing (1974) exemplifies Ana Mendieta’s pioneering exploration of body, land, and identity. The artist (American, born Cuba, 1948–1985) is widely recognized for her interdisciplinary practice spanning performance, film, photography, sculpture, and earth-based works. Within her short but prolific fifteen-year career, Mendieta’s art articulated a profound connection between exile, displacement, and belonging.
Grass Breathing depicts a small patch of grass pulsating gently—rising and falling as though alive—set into motion by Mendieta’s invisible presence beneath the earth. Shot on Super 8 film, it epitomizes her practice of ephemeral, earth-based performance art and her belief that natural materials could serve as extensions of the body.
This exhibition was curated by Andrea Inselmann, Gale and Ira Drukier Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art, and supported by the Joel and Joan Picket Exhibition Endowment.