The Aftermath of Violence: Ana Mendieta and Teresa Margolles

Feb 12

What does it mean to bear witness to the product of violence?

In this short essay, I look into the works of Ana Mendieta and Teresa Margolles, two Latin American artists from different generations and who both address the cases of violence against women within their own communities. Using distinct methodologies to engage in the aftermath and its impact, Mendieta and Margolles confront the urgency and reflect on the complexity of systematic gender-based violence.

Ana Mendieta’s 1973 Moffitt Building Piece, one of her evocative super-8mm experimental films, investigates gender-based violence through a personal tragedy. The piece was created in response to the murder of Sarah Ann Ottens, a fellow University of Iowa student who was brutally assaulted and killed in her dormitory. During the staging phase, Mendieta uses animal blood and vitals to evoke an unfiltered viscerality and impending realism. The pool of fresh blood, spread across the pavement, transforms the space into an unsettling recreation stripped entirely of context. The conscious dismissal of a narrative leaves the bystanders to construct their own interpretations as to what might have happened. Meanwhile, in a nearby car, Mendieta documents these interactions from a vantage point. The full scope of the work unfolds over the course of the day as she captures the unsuspecting witnesses experiencing the implied violence.

The body language of the documented bystanders shifts between shock, discomfort, and indifference, but their emotional responses to a state of uncertainty fail to translate into action. Mendieta notes her disappointment that, at the end of the day, no one had called the police and hardly had taken notice of the bloody scene. Hence, her artistic lens mirrors a broader societal critique, underscoring how violence against women is often encountered in fragmented and decontextualized forms. The role of bearing witness to such crimes also reflects on the parts of society that have grown desensitized to events of pervasive violence. Mendieta’s Moffitt Building Piece questions the case of collective numbness: a quiet, and at times detrimental condition that has slowly seeped into our societal fabric.

Building on Mendieta’s exploration of gendered crime, Teresa Margolles similarly addresses cases of violence against women, though her work tactically takes into context the reality women endure in Mexico. In Lote Bravo (2005), Margolles creates an installation of 50 rough, brick-like objects made of soil collected from over 100 locations in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, where the corpses of abused and murdered women have been discovered. These bricks serve as artifacts of violence, while the earth itself is bearing witness to these crimes, transformed into a portable site of memorials encapsulating both the material and symbolic weight of femicide in the region. The integration of materials directly tied to sites of violence challenges viewers to consider the palpable connection between the land and the victims.

In another piece, Sonidos de la Muerte (2008), Margolles uses sound to disrupt the quietness of the space and immerse the audience in a confrontation against violence. This installation features various audios taken from disposal locations where the bodies of women were discovered. The extracted and altered recordings recall a disembodied presence, reverbing the gallery walls with an unsettling reminder of the lives that were lost. The sound installation, like Lote Bravo, functions as an inescapable emblem of critique of the systematic neglect and socio-political silencing by the Mexican legal system and society.

While Mendieta’s Moffitt Building Piece uses implied violence to provoke meditation on societal indifference, Margolles’s Lote Bravo and Sonidos de la Muerte rely on materials that are directly tied to the victims, constructing personalized and tangible encounters. As Mendieta’s piece documents the public response to a staged crime scene, the lack of involvement and societal complicity of the people emphasizes how violence against women is often encountered in fragmented, decontextualized forms, where its implications are often ignored or dismissed. On the other hand, Margolles’s pieces are strategic reclamations and examinations of these residues of fragmented violence, giving testimony to the past under a different manner. Her work demands attention to the ongoing absence of justice in Mexico and aims to mark its place within the collective memory.