Frida Kahlo's Communism? So Bloody What!
Frida Kahlo wasn't just slapping paint on a canvas she was bleeding her soul out for all to see. She didn't care if you flinched at the sight of her blood or her political beliefs, she painted her truth.
If we continue binning artists coz their politics don't align with ours, soon enough we'll end up staring at blank walled galleries of nothingness empty as a politician’s promise. Yeah, Frida waved the red flag but her real canvas was pain, identity, passion and the whole bloody human mess.
When I'm up there strumming my guitar I'm channelling that same energy. My voice, her brush - we're both out here screaming into the abyss. Frida wasn't on some recruitment drive for her political party she was laying bare her soul, challenging you to feel something real, anything, or maybe just to piss you off a bit.
Unlike today’s world where everyone's playing it safe and terrified of their own shadow, Frida went full throttle, no brakes. Love her or hate her, but you can't ignore her. That's more punk than a hundred leather jackets and safety pins. That's punk rock before punk was even a thing.
Art should shake you, not soothe you like some lullaby. Frida’s pieces aren’t your comfort blanket, they're like downing a shot of pure reality that burns all the way down but clears your vision. Frida's work kicks down your door and drags you out of your comfy zone, forcing you to stare at the ugly beauty of life.
And this whole thing about judging artists by today's woke-o-meter? Frida was a bloody explosion of contradictions and a hurricane of human spirit. Communist yet deeply personal, nationalistic yet universal, in agony yet in love with life. Woke culture seeks a purity that doesn't exist in art or life. Art should dance in that storm, not try to tidy it up into something polite and inoffensive so it doesn’t ruffle any feathers.
Her politics, her love life, her heritage and her agony were all just different shades on her palette. But it's not the communism or the colours that draw me in, it's her balls-to-the-wall bravery. She painted not to conform but to confront and be true to herself. To me that’s punk as fuck and that's what I chase in every song I write. And this is why Frida will always be my north star guiding me through the noise and steering me true, politics be damned.
Absolutely. I had a horrendous experience the other weekend - two dear friends decided to challenge the awfulness of me attending the TR Unite the Kingdom. I initially tried to explain but when it started to feel like they believed I needed ‘an intervention for my own good’ and the shaking heads, I made my case as best as and then called time.
They are still my friends - I like what you say about a mass of contradictions, for I recognise that - but I won’t be shut down or made to feel bad for holding whatever beliefs I have. I am more than one belief, one idea, one side ( unless we are talking GC - ALL woman for our spaces for adult human female and girls).
Keep strong Louise ! Love what you say.
Great read. Kahlo was an incredibly thought provoking artist. I love your point about blank art galleries being the result of this inability to separate ART from the political views of the artist. It's something we have to get over as a society.