F is for Frida

F would always have to be for Frida Kahlo, and since much of her work consists of self portraits it seems appropriate to use her name for today's letter. Her work is influenced by her radical politics and images from Mexican culture. She contracted polio as a child and then as a teenager she was involved in a bus accident that left her with health problems that continued to plague her throughout her life. Periods of being bed bound meant that she was often her own subject and much of her work also catalogues her own suffering, both physical and mental. 

I wrote about her diary back in 2012, which is a fascinating look inside the mind of an amazing woman. Interestingly she and her husband Diego Rivera also appear as characters the novel 'The Lacuna' by Barbara Kingsolver, that I reviewed back in 2011.