During this video, we will outline the framework that will enable us to study Frida’s work, questioning the narrative of pain and suffering her work has been read through, alongside her relationship with surrealism. We will also dive into one of her artworks to understand her origins and how she constructed her myth from the moment she was born. To help you navigate this video, we recommend you answer the following questions as you watch it.
Who do you think she wrote her Diary for at the end of her life? Why do you think it is important to ask this question?
Why do you think it is important to question the dominant narratives about her life and work?
Do you think she made us, her audience, into her imaginary best friend? (Keep this question in mind for the rest of the class)
Why do you think she chose Frida as the main name from her three given names?
Why do you think it is important to explore her mixed origins?
Why do you think she gave religious origin to her father?
Why do you think she placed her parents as the central element of the composition of the painting My Grandparents, My Parents and Me, instead of herself (as she usually did)?
Do you think the way they were represented related only to their wedding picture, or do you infer another meaning from the way she depicted them?
Why do you think she made her paternal grandmother so similar to her, giving her her iconic unibrow?
Why do you think she used the metaphor of the sea?
Why do you think she described the landscape where she grew up as a desertic, almost infertile ground?
Why do you think it was important for her to have a cactus pollinate her mother’s egg?
Why do you think she painted three iterations of herself in this painting?
Why did she situate each one of these versions in those specific places in the painting?