Frida Kahlo was a well respected Mexican artist of the 20th century. Her paintings are mostly of surreal images that are influenced from her life experiences. Her paintings were reflective of some of the painful events that have happened in her life, and she has experienced a lot of pain. When she was 15 she was involved in a very terrible accident that had ever since left her in extreme pain. Her whole life she dealt with the extreme daily pain and on top of that she had to deal with a very stormy relationship with her husband Diego Rivera. He was also a well known artist in Mexico.
This is one of her most famous paintings. It is titled The Two Fridas, 1939, Oil on canvas, Mexico City. The composition consists of two images of herself holding hands under a very stormy sky. The sky represents the current turmoil in her life and the two images of herself represents the two sides of her personality. One is the very formal Frida, oppressed in her traditional wedding dress, and the other is her in her regular attire showing her strong side. Each figure has their heart exposed showing her venerability to the world. In each pose she is expressionless, not showing her pain. She is radiating her inner strength showing that she is not going to give up on herself or life. It also shows that she can only trust and depend on herself.
This images relates back to our current topic at hand showing the stereo typical sex-roles within society and societies viewpoint of sex-roles with in the family and the household. This painting shows the every day struggle that Frida had in her life. Not only did she deal with the turmoil in her every day relationship with Diego Rivera and the constant physical pain she was in, but she also had to play the role of the traditional Mexican woman. She may have not agreed with these viewpoints in her culture and her own relationship, but she fought back in a more suttle way through her paintings. She did not have to verbalize her feelings, they were self explanatory through her images.
I think that this issue tears at a lot of women in society today who are torn with their personal viewpoints of feminism but are under the constraints of their culture, race, or religion. It is very hard for some women to be able to speak out what they believe when there is the chance of rejection within their own community, lifestyle, or even their own family. It is women like Frida Kahlo that have paved the road and shown others that it is ok to voice your opinions and express your feelings. She just used a visual approach instead of a verbal one. I believe this was just as effective.
This gives a lighter approach to the topic when using a visual. People are more receptive to it because it is less work and no reading. Plus everyone may interperet it as they choose to. It is more aesteticly pleasing then words therefore more receptablility to more people.