‘‘[m]y art is grounded in the belief in one Universal Energy which runs through everything from insect to man, from man to spectre, from spectre to plant, from plant to galaxy’ (Viso, 2004:35), she refered to the fluidity of becoming. The body transformed into earth, water and fire is the aesthetic embodiment of becoming in Mendieta’s art.
In this paper, the works of a woman artist who got inspiration from nature, body and myths have been analysed in the light of some philosophical concepts. Butler’s approach to gender was useful to understand Mendieta’s drag performances. Blocker’s interpretation of Butler’s performative identity was reconsidered with a new look through the glasses of Deleuze and Guattari’s becoming (becoming minor/
molecular/woman/animal/plant). The relation between deterritorialization, becoming, and lines of flight in Mendieta’s art helped us expose the liberating elements. Deviating from Rogoff’s approach to deterritorialization in a cultural and historical perspective, deterritorialization was taken to a conceptual and existential level as the concepts of body, woman and land were also deterritorialized. In addition, Mendieta’s exile was analysed with Kristeva’s understanding of foreigner and the uncanny. It was demonstrated how the uncanny can lead to freedom using Deleuzian terminology of line of flight and becoming. As a result, besides going beyond Blocker’s and Rogoff’s analysises, we displayed how Mendieta’s works transformed the idea of a fixed and coherent identity of the West in the light of Kristeva, Deleuze and Guattari. It is a typical question of hybridity forming a bridge between cultures; however, identity itself can be deterritorialized in a continuous process of nomadhood. In that respect, even today Mendieta sets a good example.
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