Chronic SOS - May 5, 2023
¡Feliz Cinco de Mayo!
Cinco de Mayo ("fifth of May") commemorates the Mexican victory over the French in the Battle of Puebla in 1862. Over the years, Cinco de Mayo has evolved into a celebration of Mexican heritage in the United States.
This year, I'd like to focus on a famous Mexican artist who struggled with chronic pain and health issues: Frida Kahlo.
Frida Kahlo (1907-1954) expressed her pain and conditions through her art and many of her well known paintings are self portraits expressing that pain. She contracted polio as a child, which caused her to be bedridden and in casts for 9 months. This caused her to limp due to uneven bone growth.
Frida Kahlo age 5 years old, shortly before she contracted polio
When she was 18, she was in a bus accident that left her impaled and seriously injured. When she was in a full body cast for 3 months, she passed time by painting self portraits. She suffered two miscarriages as an adult.
The Broken Column, 1944
The combinations of tragedies left her with lifelong health issues and severe, chronic pain. Her work was heavily influenced by her feelings and experiences and showed how she envisioned her pains. Her paintings often have bleeding hearts, shattered body parts, and show her in vulnerable positions.
At the end of her life, she was bedridden again with difficulties with her left leg, which was later amputated. As she had done before, she continued to paint and showcase her pain in a very raw and visceral way through her art. Without words, the viewer can look at her works and know and feel what she had felt in that moment.
The Two Fridas, 1939
She died at the unfortunately young age of 47. Though she has been gone from this world for nearly 70 years, she continues to live on in her art and is considered one of the greatest artists, both of all time and in Mexican history.
I would like to give her the additional title of "one of the most influential disabled women" as well! May she have found the peace that she longed for.
