WHY FRIDA KAHLO IS AN INSPIRATION FOR SO MANY WOMEN.
EDITOR’S LETTER Deze ZINE is toegewijd aan Frida Kahlo en haar feministische kant. Voor het lab: Graphics kreeg ik de opdracht om een mini magazine te maken over een icoon, een van de eerste mensen die mij te binnen schoot was Frida Kahlo. Vorig jaar in de zomer ben ik naar Mexico toegegaan op vakantie en zag en hoorde ik regelmatig Frida Kahlo voorbijkomen. Maar
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naast een paar schilderijen en foto’s van haar gezien te hebben, wist ik nog steeds niet heel veel van haar. Hier wou ik verandering in brengen. Een onderwerp dat mij altijd heel erg inspireert is feminisme en ik heb uiteindelijk ook gekozen om dit als rode draad te pakken, Frida Kahlo en feminisme. Hier komen 5 redenen waarom Frida Kahlo nog steeds vrouwen inspireert.
‘‘I AM MY OWN MUSE. THE SUBJECT I KNOW BEST. THE SUBJECT I WANT TO BETTER.’’ - FRIDA KAHLO
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ABOUT FRIDA
The iconic uni-brow, hair adorned with flowers, and a slight moustache — these are the features that Frida Kahlo is instantly recognised by, and the aspects of herself that she chose to portray time and time again in her self portraits. Kahlo was born 110 years ago, but she is still celebrated by artists and feminists across the world. Left disabled by polio at the age of two, she also suffered grave injuries as a result of a bus crash that almost killed her at the age of 18. While recuperating, she took up painting. She would later come to be known as a surrealist and
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magical realist painter. Her relationship with her husband Diego Riviera is much talked about. After divorcing him, she remarried him, but the couple was known to have multiple affairs. But all this is history and facts. What makes so many women draw inspiration from her is the way she didn’t allow her illness to limit her, how she retained her true sense of self, and the uninhibited manner in which she portrayed women in her paintings. Here are 5 reasons why Frida is still to this day a inspiration for so many women.
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1. SHE DEFIED GENDER STEROTYPE Frida smoked, boxed, won tequila challenges against men, and dressed like a man in a family portrait, contrasting to her mother and sisters who wore dresses. She refused to alter her ‘masculine’ features, including her mono-brow and faint moustache, and actually exaggerated these features in her self portraits. She once wrote in her diary “of my face, I like my eyebrows and eyes”. However she still embraced her femininity, wearing colorful dresses and decorating her hair with braids and flowers.
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2. SHE PAINTED REAL WOMEN AND REAL EXPERIENCES Frida deviated from the traditional depiction of female beauty in art and instead chose to paint raw and honest experiences that so many women face. Her subject matter included abortion, miscarriage, birth and breastfeeding, among other things, often seen as taboo and like many female experiences altogether ignored. Frida once said of her self portraits that “they are the frankest expression of myself�, and in turn shed light on the experiences shared by womankind.
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‘‘I DON’T PAINT DREAMS OR NIGHTMARES. I PAINT MY OWN REALITY.’’ - FRIDA KAHLO
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3. SHE WAS OPENLY BISEXUAL Frida had multiple affairs with both men and women throughout her marriage to Diego Rivera. She made no apologies or excuses for her sexual choices, a bold act for her time. One of her notable affairs was with entertainer Josephine Baker, who matched Kahlo’s boldness and creativity.
Frida Kahlo with Mexican photographer tina modotti, who was rumoured to be one of her affairs.
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4. SHE EMBRACED WEIRDNESS Frida relished in breaking the rules, both in her art and her life. She surrounded herself with other inspiring creatives and thinkers. One of the reasons her work is so widely celebrated is because it was unlike anything proceeding it. Though she was well aware of her uniqueness, she encouraged others to embrace their inner weirdo too, as she says:
“I used 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.” 11
The Two Fridas: This painting is the most famous work of Frida Kahlo and has even appeared on film. She made this shortly after separating from Diego Rivera. The Frida dressed in white represents the Frida that was abandoned by Diego, and the second one, dressed in Mexican attire, is the one who married him.
5. SHE DEFIED HER DESTINY AS A VICTIM Frida experienced an immense amount of suffering throughout her life; contracting polio at age six, suffering from spina bifida, and then at the age of 18 suffering a near-fatal car accident that left her unable to bear children. Though she was bedridden for months after the accident, Frida began to
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paint. She transformed her pain into passion on the canvas. Though there is always a sense of despair and suffering in her self portraits, her gaze remains defiant and fierce. While so many women are depicted as the victim, Frida demonstrates that pain is an intrinsic part of life but does not define us.
Self-Portrait with Thorn Necklace and Hummingbird
The Broken Column
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‘‘FEET, WHAT DO I NEED YOU FOR WHEN I HAVE WINGS TO