September 15 through October 15 is the month long national celebration of Hispanic Heritage which recognizes contributions of Hispanic and Latino Americans to the United States and also a celebration of the heritage and culture. I wanted to take part in this month’s celebration to feature one of my favorite Mexican women Frida Kahlo, the Mexican painter, who is highly known and recognized for herself portraits or as we like to call them, “selfies”. My love for Frida blossomed through a friend of mine who adored Frida. I learned so much about Frida, her life, her paintings, and most importantly, her pain. As a Mexican American, it makes me very proud to say that Frida was a strong Mexican woman, who paved the way for other women artists and became such an inspiration for women in general.
Frida Kahlo de Rivera was born on July 6, 1907 in Coyocaoan, Mexico City, Mexico and started her paintings after she was severely injured in a bus accident. Kahlo suffered several injuries resulting from a steel handrail, which went through her hip. When Frida went home to recover from her accident, she took up painting and finished her first self portrait the following year. Kahlo later married Diego Rivera, a Mexican muralist who she watched create the mural, “The Creation” in her school’s lecture hall before her accident. Frida dealt with infidelity, miscarriages, pain and even experienced the ultimate betrayal by her own sister and her husband Diego. When this happened, Frida cut off most of her dark hair. The marriage union between the two was not ideal, traditional or easy, but they loved each other and managed to stay together and even remarried after they had divorced. Frida unfortunately suffered from health issues, which eventually took her life in July of 1954. Since Frida’s death, she has been viewed by many as a Mexican icon and a female of great creativity. Salma Hayek later went on to portray the Mexican artist in a 2002 film titled, “Frida”.
One of my favorite paintings is, The Two Fridas (1939), which show two versions of Frida sitting side by side, which was painted during her divorce with Diego. The painting represents her deep hurt after losing her husband. One Frida sits on the left (the Frida that felt rejected by Diego), with her blouse ripped open, exposing her broken and bleeding heart. The Frida on the right (the Frida that is still loved by Diego), has a heart that is intact and holds a picture of Diego. I think the representation of hurt in this painting can be felt by many people who have endured a broken heart. The saying is true, "A picture is worth a thousand words." Frida didn't downplay her hurt or hide any of her feelings. The representation of all her emotions were there in her art.
Frida was not only an incredible artist, but she was also a fashionista. She created herself and her identity through her uni brow, her love of bright colors, the flowers in her hair and beautiful attire. There is no other Frida. She was such a trendsetter, blowing away the competition.
"I use to think I was the strangest person in the world, but then I thought, there are so many people in the world, there must be someone just like me who feels bizarre and flawed in the same ways I do. I would imagine her, and imagine that she must be out there thinking of me too. Well, I hope that if you are out there and read this and know that, yes, it's true. I'm here, and I'm just as strange as you." - Frida Kahlo
Thank you Frida for showing me that I'm not alone, or better yet, that we as women, are not alone.
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