BMA142 Frida Kahlo-doscope #2, 1 June

I made my first Frida Kahlo-doscope a few months ago for our kaleidoscope project using the Corel Painter program.  Excited by the possibilities of working with traditional media in a digital format, I started this one around the same time and decided to finish it up for inclusion in my magazine project. I created the 4-way Frida in Corel and created separate files for each of the corner characters which I added in Photoshop.  I've always loved Frida because she is an unflinching self-portraitist and turned her personal struggles into beautiful imagery (Frida Kahlo biography).
I've chosen my favourite images from her life, culture and work for each of the corners.  Te Amo (I love you) is a milagro, religious folk charms from Mexico.  The silver charms each represent a body part or need that is prayed for. I bought a heart-shaped milagro wall hanging in Detroit's Mexico Town and the wall inspired my background colour choices.


Te Odio (I hate you) is muralist Diego Rivera, Frida's husband.  They had a tumultous relationship and married for a second time before she died. biography  Te Quiero (I want you) is one of the monkeys that feature in many of her paintings.  Frida and her monkeys have also inspired the final image of my storyboard this semester in "Monkey Saves the Daypaint!"  Te Necesito (I need you) is one of the babies that pop up in her work (Moses).  She paints her broken body and heart organ but I already had the love heart milagro and I felt using the organ would be redundant.  Birth, motherhood and babies appear thematically in her work so I chose the baby just about to be born to symbolize her creative process.