Inspired by Frida

I’m not entirely sure when I first became aware of the iconic Mexican artist Frida Kahlo. I certainly had never heard of her when I was growing up and I doubt many people had back then outside of her native Mexico, although now days she is one of the most famous artists of the twentieth century, her image is on everything from socks to pencil pots (I have both) and her legacy is so powerful it has even been dubbed ‘Fridamania’

My Frida Pencil pot

I think that I first heard her name in 1998 when I had a holiday in San Francisco with my ex-husband. He was working and I had several long days on my own to explore the city. On doing all the usual tourist trips I visited the Coit Tower, an emblem of San Francisco’s skyline soaring above the city on Telegraph Hill, giving views of the city and the bay. But it wasn’t the views that fascinated me, rather the fabulous frescoes inside the tower completed by various artists as part of the Public Works of Arts Project. They depicted themes of agriculture, industry, immigration, politics, capitalism, and social class. Three of the artists responsible had studied with the Mexican mural art Diego Rivera, sharing both his communist politics as well as his artistic style. Leading me down a rabbit hole of research I discovered that Rivera had visited the city in the early 1930s on a working honeymoon with his wife Frida Kahlo who was also an artist and four of his murals remain in the city. At the time it was Rivera’s bold oversized paintings that interested me, but the name Frida Kahlo had been logged somewhere in my brain.

“The Making of a Fresco Showing the Building of a City” Diego Rivera, 1931

One of the four murals by Rivera in San Francisco. The artist has painted himself sitting in the centre with his back to us

Then as often happens for me, a work of fiction opened up a whole trail of artistic research. Some years after my trip to San Francisco I picked up the novel “The Lacuna” by one of my favourite authors Barbara Kingsolver. The story is about the fictional character Harrison Shepherd, so keenly written I was convinced he had to be real but he’s not! Born in the USA but reared in Mexico by a series of housekeepers, as a boy Shepherd learns to work in kitchens, runs errands around the streets of Mexico City and one day ends up mixing plaster for the muralist Diego Rivera where he meets the exotic artist Frida Kahlo who becomes his lifelong friend. He ends up working for Diego and Frida and subsequently for the exiled political leader Trotsky. Inadvertently Shepherd finds himself embroiled in a real world of politics, art and revolution. He moves from Mexico to work in the States, the America of Pearl Harbour, Roosevelt, and J. Edgar Hoover. The plot twists and turns, tossing Shepherd between the two worlds of America and Mexico where he navigates the gap – the lacuna – between the two. It is a fabulous piece of story telling, one of the rare books I have read more than once but what has always stuck with me is the way Kingsolver so vividly depicts the life of Frida Kahlo who remains as a constant presence throughout the life story of Harrison Shepherd. The Lacuna proved to be the inspiration for one of my favourite pieces of art, but first a look at the life of Frida Kahlo.

We share a birthday. She was born in Coyoacán, a suburb of Mexico City on 6^th July 1907 exactly fifty years before me. She was the third of four sisters. Her father was a German photographer Wilhelm Kahlo (he later changed his name to Guillermo) who came to Mexico aged nineteen and her mother Matilde was indigenous Mexican. At age six, Frida contracted polio and although she eventually recovered it left her with a weakened and disfigured right leg. Despite her disability she was a promising student who was destined to go to medical school to become a doctor. But as you will know from last week’s newsletter, at aged only eighteen she was involved in a near fatal bus accident, suffering many painful injuries including a fractured pelvis, punctured abdomen and uterus, a broken spinal column, a broken leg and collar bone and a crushed foot, all of which left her which left her with a lifetime of pain and operations. It was during her time recovering in bed that she rediscovered her childhood love of art.

Frida and Diego, 1931, Frida Kahlo

Frida had first met Diego Rivera while she was still at her high school, Escuela Preparatoria where he was painting murals. Later in 1928 when she had recovered from her accident she took some of her paintings to ask Rivera’s advice on whether he thought she was talented enough to make a living as an artist. The pair were instantly attracted to each other and despite a twenty one year age gap they were married in 1929. The following year they moved to the USA where Diego had been invited to paint murals. During this time Frida dedicated herself to her art but she was unhappy and homesick. She also suffered a difficult miscarriage during this time which left her in hospital after a severe haemorrhage. Eventually the couple returned to Mexico, but life continued to be tumultuous. Both Frida and Diego had several affairs, they continued to be involved in politics and Frida was even suspected of being involved in the murder of Trotsky, with whom she had also had a brief fling. Eventually in 1939 the couple divorced but remarried again just a year later, although they still continued to have extra marital affairs. Throughout this time Frida’s health deteriorated and she endured many operations, each leaving her in more pain than before, yet she never stopped painting, mostly autobiographical self-portraits documenting the hardship and struggles throughout her life, right up until her death in July 1954 aged only 47.

Although a work of fiction, The Lacuna was my first introduction to the complex life of Frida Kahlo and I was struck by the following lines from the book

“The most important part of a story is the part you don’t know”

“The most important thing about a person is always the thing you don’t know”

A sentiment that is often returned to throughout the book it kept drawing me back, in particular the idea of Frida Kahlo wearing her wonderful traditional Mexican costume with long lace underskirts that would hide her deformed leg, so people would not know the part of her story that said she was disabled. At the time I was researching the story of lace for a degree in stitched textiles, and I was fascinated by how lace can both conceal and reveal. One thing led to another, and it resulted in me making a book with lace pages that held stories invisibly stitched into each page.

Lacuna, Gina Ferrari (photograph Michael Wicks)

Readers of my then blog, sent me scraps of lace with a sentence or two on where each piece had come from. The stories behind each lace fragment varied from the ordinary to the most extraordinary, sometimes heart breaking tales. Each little scrap was incorporated into the book and every single story with which I had been entrusted was written in free motion stitching across the pages. The stories were there but unseen. The result was my book ‘The Lacuna’ representing the gaps in our knowledge. Although not directly linked to the work of Frida Kahlo I consider it my first piece of work inspired by her.

Wings to Fly, Gina Ferrari

Another finished piece started as a group challenge to make a piece of art inspired by or made from a box of our choice. Having recently seen a pair of beautifully embroidered shoes at an exhibition I decided to start with a shoe box with the intention of making a pair of shoes. By now I had read Hayden Herrera’s biography of Frida Kahlo (which I recommend if you want a comprehensive story of the artist’s life) and knew that later in her life she had her right leg amputated. She had never been able to wear delicate shoes due to her disability and now had to wear a large cumbersome boot on her prosthetic leg. Yet with her usual flair she made herself a red boot that was highly painted and decorated. I decided to make a pair of imaginary shoes for Frida Kahlo, constructed yet again from lace, delicate and impractical, concealing her disability. They were called “Wings to Fly” which was taken from a 1953 entry in her diary

“Feet? What do I need you for when I have wings to fly” Page from Frida’s diary

Over the years I have attempted to paint her portrait, not always very successfully

I have made a fabric Frida doll from the days when I taught doll making

I have put her face onto an embroidered cushion

And I have even crocheted a beautiful Frida blanket designed by the very talented Janie Crow yet I never tire of Frida Kahlo and she continues to inspire me in so many ways.

This week she has provided the starting point for my 100 day project to explore portraits… which has got off to a bit of a halting start due to life getting in the way but I’m not letting that stop me.