EARTH ACTIONS: DISINTEGRATION AND DIASPORA IN ISAIAH 44 AND IN MENDIETA’S SILUETAS
Benjamin Morse
ABSTRACT
Drawing upon the performances of the earth-artist Ana Mendieta, this piece approaches Isaiah 44 as a prophecy enacted before a diaspora community. Both artist and prophet employ metaphors of water and earth to illustrate identity’s inevitable erosion and disintegration, but not utter destruction, in exile. Mendieta’s subjection of the female form and her own body to the earth’s regenerative cycles also aids in a critique of the masculine constructions in the prophetic chapter – and by way of contrast shows divine creative action can be more accurately characterised as a feminine function.
KEYWORDS
Isaish 44; Ana Mendieta; ecology
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