FRIDA

What a life! What a woman! What an incredible human. The life of Frida Kahlo - Mexican painter, feminist, activist, outspoken artist, storyteller of life, phenomenal woman - is such an original work of art; you can’t help but be inspired. 

This is a human who as soon as I learned about, I admired. Yet I did not develop a deep appreciation for her until I met another strong woman and good friend who had a deep appreciation. It was my wonderful and lively Peruvian friend, Sandra, who adored Frida and adorned her home with photos and dolls with Frida’s face. There were also trinkets, handicrafts from travels, and fresh cut flowers - all reminiscent of La Casa Azul in their color and personality. It was like seeing someone for the first time through new eyes.

Frida is an icon. She’s fierce and unapologetic. She is a tower of strength in a petite frame. This woman endured great pain and tragedy. She experienced life and came out on top; she would not let life or her experiences get the best of her.

It was not an easy life and she found beauty in it still. As a young girl, she contracted Polio, which left her right leg a little shorter than the other. She walked with a limp, which caused her hips and spine to form by compensation during formative growth years, her spine twisting to the limp. This malformation would cause her pelvis to deform, rendering Frida unable to have children later on.

Some years later, as a teenager, her leg would be of disservice to her again when she was in a bus accident. One day in 1925, Frida was riding a wooden bus with her then boyfriend when it got struck by an electric trolley car. The impact shattered the bus and caused damage to many of the riders, perhaps most of all to Frida. A piece of bus pinned her down and a handrail pierced her lower body and pelvis. Frida would undergo 30 surgeries throughout the rest of her life to repair the damaged caused, sometimes leaving her bedridden for months at a time.

After the accident, while in bed recuperating unable to move all but her arms, Frida took to painting to keep her mind busy. She painted friends and family. She painted self-portraits with the use of mirrors. She painted her pain and her body cast. She painted all her scars and broken pieces. She put it all out there, nothing to hide.

Eventually, she would marry renowned painter Diego Rivera. It was a tumultuous relationship, but there was passion and love. She did get pregnant, but suffered a miscarriage. Neither one of them were faithful to each other. They divorced once and remarried the following year.

Throughout all of this, Frida painted what she saw and felt. With every painting, she conveyed a story of her life, the way she saw herself and the world around her. To me, this is part of her legacy - using painting as therapy and storytelling in a way that set her apart from other artists of that time.