Ishiuchi Miyako on Photographing Frida Kahlo’s Belongings
‘Kahlo’s dresses, corsets and shoes took on the shapes of her love, pain and identity, still palpable 58 years after her death’
‘Kahlo’s dresses, corsets and shoes took on the shapes of her love, pain and identity, still palpable 58 years after her death’
In 2012, I photographed Frida Kahlo’s belongings in the garden of La Casa Azul in Mexico City, the artist’s former home which is now the Museo Frida Kahlo. Kahlo’s dresses, corsets and shoes took on the shapes of her love, pain and identity, still palpable 58 years after her death, striking me with a stunning reality. I could sense her spirit of kindness and compassion, contrasting vividly with the frequently shocking content of the paintings she rendered with such depth and delicacy.
Published in Frieze Masters, issue 7, 2018, with the title ‘Artist's Artists’.
