We can always look at the life of the monumental, Frida Kahlo, and grasp something new. The Brooklyn Museum is currently presenting “Frida Kahlo: Appearances Can Be Deceiving”, the largest exhibition in the United States dedicated to the artist in a decade and it’s revealed rediscovered artifacts from her life accessible for the first time.
Kahlo was a woman who defined the term ‘strength.’ She suffered from polio as a child and was in a bus accident that shattered her spine, however, she never allowed her disabilities to limit her art. Defining herself through her disability, culture and politics allowed Kahlo to be unabashedly herself and produce art in its purest form. Along with her paintings, drawings and photographs, the Brooklyn Museum is displaying her clothes, items from her home with muralist, Diego River, her spine-straightening corsets and her jewelry.
Kahlo branded herself through her possessions, her art and her transparency. This exhibition further reveals more about the values of the artist and how she crafted her identity to reflect her beliefs.
We can remember that Frida Kahlo was real a person and not just an icon through everything we continue to learn about her, and take away inspiration for how we may try to craft ourselves.