An ‘ode’ to Frida. Why I paint Frida.

Why I love Frida and why I paint her…and keep painting her.

Frida left a legacy, a voice for women as equal to men. She wore pants, she smoked, she loved hard; yet she was not afraid to express the duality of her nature ` the feminine aspects of self.

She had incredible style and appreciation of colour; wearing beautiful, vibrant dresses. She had an eye for beauty. Frida expressed her soft nurturing feminine side despite her exposed heart being hurt by a man who indulged his own vices before honouring a woman who had proffered up her heart and soul to him.

Equal, if not better than her husband as an artist; during her time she was kept in the shadows in the art world, whilst her husband shined and was celebrated. I like to think that given Frida’s tenacity, this pushed her to work harder, paint better and persevere.

Frida suffered enormous physical pain and loss…loss of a child, motherhood, loss of pain-free quality of life. Yet she dug further into her souls expression through her art as a way forward and shared it for the world to see. What a gift she gave us!

A beacon for how we, should misfortune come visit us; with physical suffering or heart, soul or psychological suffering…to find it within our depths to fight on, to push forward, to ‘live’!

Like many, I connect with Frida on so many levels. As a woman who has suffered loss…the loss of a pregnancy, the loss of a love, the suffering of physical abuse by a partner, psychological abuse by a partner, the void of not being treated like a man in this world…as an equal.

But I also relate to Frida as a woman in touch with her power despite all the suffering and loss. Art made Frida transcend the agony of physical suffering into another level of consciousness through her paintings. She saw through her work that she was more than her body. She explored her internal landscape whilst her physical body interrupted, crumbled. Frida showed us that we are more than our physical self and that we can continue on living despite our suffering.

Frida helps guide me as a woman to also see beauty in the world, to open my heart and be vulnerable and soft and at the same time unbending and strong on a path of conviction. She whispers to me to listen and be led by my passion and advocate for what is right and true.

This was my first Frida painting as I transitioned from whimsical proportioned faces to more realistic proportion faces ~

Here is the piece I am currently working on ~

(Sold) ‘Frida’s Courage’ Original Acrylic on Canvas 18″ x 36″ © 2017 Tanya Cole

postscript: Frida’s monobrow. I did not mention it in the body of my writing. For it’s importance is not in the value of a woman, but for what it now stands for. It is a symbol with a poignant message much like the flag of a country. Whilst Frida’s facial hair is notable and up for discussion much; it has been made iconic as a  symbol for embracing all of ourselves as women in all our natural wonder. It is sad that in Western culture and society women have been made to feel shame for having hair that sprouts from places that men determined, makes them more masculine. Are we all not a beautiful blend of both the feminine and masculine but forced to deny those aspects in ourselves? Painting and celebrating Frida’s monobrow represents a liberation, a reclamation…a ‘fuck you’! to a history of patriarchy-led oppression of women. So the monobrow becomes an important symbol. Which I honour.

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