Frida Kahlo: Mexican Artist -- World Icon

This illustrated presentation will explore multiple questions surrounding the personality and paintings of Frida Kahlo, a legendary figure from the Mexican revolutionary era. How and why has she become a modern icon whose self-portraits are known around the world? Why did she choose the self-portrait as her principal theme, and what was she trying to convey to the observer? To what extent was Kahlo revolutionary in the way she lived and painted? Why do feminist artists exault her work? Is it appropriate to describe her as an emblem of mexicanidad (Mexican-ness)? How does her legacy compare with that of her famous husband, the muralist Diego Rivera?

Presenter Profile: Stephanie Wood, Senior Research Associate, CSWS

Stephanie Wood Stephanie Wood grew up in Northern California, picking apples and blueberries in the summers, rubbing shoulders with Mexican workers and becoming fascinated with their language and cultures. She comes from a family that greatly admired the Mexican heritage of California, built an adobe home, and traveled regularly south of the border. As an undergraduate, she lived in Mexico City, doing archival research for a senior thesis on indigenous communities' struggles to defend their lands. Her doctoral dissertation continued in this vein, requiring another year's research in Mexico. Now the author of three books and dozens of articles on Mexican history, Wood is developing a multimedia project about five female icons, whose lives spanned five centuries and whose stories help us understand Mexican history today. Wood is also co-directing the Virtual Mesoamerican Archive and the Mapas Projects, two Internet-based works aimed at advancing Mesoamerican Studies and research into pictorial manuscripts from colonial Mexican indigenous town histories.