From Bleeding to Breathing: Embodying Violence and Healing in the Performances of Ana Mendieta, Regina José Galindo and Ruby Rumié

Author

Norell Sherman, Bowdoin CollegeFollow

Year of Graduation

2021

Level of Access

Restricted Access Thesis

Embargo Period

5-20-2021

Department or Program

Latin American, Caribbean, and Latinx Studies

First Advisor

Nadia Celis

Abstract

This thesis explores how Latin American and Latinx artists Ana Mendieta (Cuba 1948- NYC 1985), Regina José Galindo (Guatemala 1974) and Ruby Rumié (Colombia 1958) engage their bodies in (re)presentations of violence against women through performance. I study the body as the holder of pain and trauma of violence against women—rape, murder, institutional violence—and as the site to interpret, resist and heal that violence through performance. Each of these artists relies on a different set of creative strategies that both highlight and expand the limits of embodiment and performance as tools to address violence. Through performance, these creators provide opportunities for themselves and other women to re-write the stories that trauma has etched onto their bodies.