sp: grendel dies

back to the art: the plaster-like silhouettes in the photographs were made with earth materials directly from the site, like mud, stones, and plants. mendieta documented her earth art, including these oaxaca works, with film, then they were dismantled either by the artist, natural processes (eg rain, tides, erosion), or both. with the exception of cave carvings in her native cuba, mendieta's earth art was ephemeral, mostly long gone for half a century.

as for the artwork's content: it represents bodily and spiritual connection to land. so from another perspective, these sculptures cultivated respect to and sanctification of the site before and as the archaeological research disrupted it.