Exiled space, in-between space: Existential spatiality in Ana Mendieta's Siluetas Series

Existential space is lived space, space permeated by our raced, gendered selves. It is representative of our very existence. The purpose of this essay is to explore the intersection between this lived space and art by analyzing the work of the Cuban-born artist Ana Mendieta and showing how her Siluetas Series discloses a space of exile. 7he first section discusses existential spatiality as explained by the phenomenologists Heidegger and Watsuji and as represented in Mendieta's Siluetas. The second section analyzes the space of exile as a space of in-between-ness and borders. Lastly, the third section discusses temporality as it relates to the space of exile. Through the analysis of Mendieta's Siluetas, and in light of phenomenological accounts of space and the works of Anzaldua and Mignolo, Ana Mendieta herself is disclosed as well as the space characteristic of those who can no longer be said to have a "home."