The Tamesis
Many artists have painted portraits of themselves, but Kahlo’s 1944 painting broken column as a particularly vivid example of an artist using her own body (and in Kahlo’s case, her own pain and suffering) in art. This brick and oil painting was created shortly after Kahlo underwent spinal surgery at the age of 18 following injuries sustained in a traffic accident. “Kahlo’s body was impaled by numerous nails and torn open to reveal a crumbling architectural column, symbolizing her own spine, her body held together by orthopedic braces,” Margaret A. Lindauer wrote in her 1999 book Devouring Frida: The Art History and Popular Celebrity of Frida Kahlo. “The painting is thought to represent the accident and the impact on Kahlo’s mental and sexual health.”
Ana Mendieta
The Cuban-American performer and sculptor’s “Silueta” series of works created in Mexico and Iowa struck an unforgettable chord after Mendieta’s death in 1985, in which she carved and shaped her image into the earth using materials such as flowers, moss, gunpowder and fire. Mendieta’s husband, artist Carl Andre, has been under suspicion since he fell from the window of his 34th-floor apartment in Greenwich Village. Decades after his acquittal, protesters at the 2017 André exhibition unrolled fabric representing the silhouette of Mendieta’s body and work, chanting “Dónde está Ana Mendieta?” (“Where is Ana Mendieta?”).
Yoko Ono
Ono developed an important conceptual practice after moving to New York from Japan in the early 1950s. One particularly memorable work was the 1964 Cut into piecesshe sat on stage with a pair of scissors in front of her and invited the audience to cut off her clothes, raising questions about agency, identity, violence and power.
