Merret Hennes: Ana Mendieta

             Way of Seeing - John Berger

1. “..she comes to consider the surveyor and the surveyed within her as the two constituent yet always distinct elements of her identity as a woman.She has to survey everything she is and everything she does because how she appears to others, and ultimately how she appears to men, is of crucial importance for what is normally thought of as the success of her life. Her own sense of being in herself is supplanted by a sense of being appreciated as herself by another.”

2. "You painted a naked woman because you enjoyed looking at her, you put a mirror in her hand and you called the painting Vanity, thus morally condemning the woman whose nakedness you had depicted for your own pleasure." 

Overlooked No More: Ana Mendieta, a Cuban Artist Who Pushed Boundaries

1. “questions would echo in her work, which explored themes that pushed ethnic, sexual, moral, religious and political boundaries. She urged viewers to disregard their gender, race or other defining societal factors and instead connect with the  humanity they share with others.”

2.  she takes all of these things to the world at large that might not be considered fine arts. She turns them into something intelligent, harrowing and emotional.”

            The Photographed, Collaged, and Painted Muses of Mickalene Thomas

1. “By selecting women of color, I am quite literally raising their visibility and inserting their presence into the conversation,” Thomas said in a recent interview. “By portraying real women with their own unique history, beauty and background, I’m working to diversify the representations of black women in art.”

            Understanding Patriarchy

1. “The word “patriarchy” just is not a part of their normal everyday thought or speech. Men who have heard and know the word usually associate it with women’s liberation, with feminism, and therefore dismiss it as irrelevant to their own experiences”

2. “growing up is the system of patriarchy, even if we never know the word, because patriarchal gender roles are assigned to us as children and we are given continual guidance about the ways we can best fulfill these roles.”