Frida Kahlo : A Cultural Icon
She is no stranger! You must have seen her face on T-shirts, postcards, magazines and somewhere on Pinterest. she is totally recognizable by her monobrows, her thick dark braids and the colorful flowers that she uses as accessories.
The Mexican artist, Frida Kahlo, is mainly known for painting self-portraits after she was severely injured in a bus accident. She chose to express her pain and struggles through her paintings.
She basically uses the visual symbolism of physical pain in a long-standing attempt to better understand emotional suffering.
"My painting carries with it the message of pain." Frida Kahlo
Some of Frida’s Masterpieces :
The Two Fridas (1939)
The Broken Column 1944 Painting by Frida Kahlo
Frida Kahlo was also a Feminist, she was celebrated for her depiction of the female experience and form. She made it authorized for women to openly display their pains and frustrations and to thus make steps towards making sense of and understanding them. It became crucial for women artists to have a female role model. Kahlo’s style signature is actually her monobrow. Facial hair for women was unusual in the 1920s and 30s, and her eyebrows and mustache caused controversy.
But she didn’t care. She actually celebrated the fact that women grow facial hair and that it’s not something to be ashamed of.
A woman who knew how to dress for effect: Frida Kahlo created a style that set her apart and made her unique and that spoke to both her personal life and her artistic intentions. Her clothes were beautiful. They were obviously something she approached with great relish.
She knew how to assemble her look carefully. It was a bricolage of places and reference points. She mixed embroidered Tehuana dresses (originally worn by women from the Tehuantepec region of South Mexico) with Huipil blouses, Rebozo scarves, and fabrics from both China and Europe. Many of these garments had strong associations with powerful women or particular manifestations of femininity.
Frida will always remain an inspirational woman, a true warrior, a woman who rose from pain, who never gave up. She was and is still a symbol of female power.
"I paint myself because I am often alone and because I am the subject I know best...I think that little by little, I'll be able to solve my own problems and survive". Frida Kahlo