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BODY OF WORK:
FRIDA KAHLO
created by Pulling Threads
"I paint my own reality.  The only thing I know is that
I paint because I need to, and I paint whatever passes
through my head without any other consideration".
--Frida Kahlo, (1907-1954)
In 1925, a young Frida Kahlo was involved in a horrific accident. The bus on which she was riding collided with a trolley car and a trolley rail pierced her body entering from her side and exiting through her vagina.  As a direct result, Kahlo endured severe medical treatment including 32 operations, and was often confined to her bed.  Many of these events have been chronicled in her deeply personal paintings and self-portraits.  Pulling Threads devised a text from diaries, letters and dreams that create a collage which examines the life of the great artist.
BODY OF WORK:  FRIDA KAHLO is divided into three segments -- each segment included three sequences:  film; dream; and gallery. 

In the first segment, the "The Bus, a film" explored the debilitating bus accident.  The "Dream" sequence explored Frida's initial attempts at painting.  "Gallery:  Roots (1943)"  brought to life the movement of this painting.

In the second segment, "Letters, a home movie"  dramatized personal correspondence to a family doctor.  In the letters, Kahlo sought advice concerning a recent pregnancy.  The "Dream" portion of this segment dealt with the miscarriages and abortions Kahlo experienced during her life.  "Gallery: My Birth (1932)" recreated Kahlo's own difficult birth. 

The third segment celebrated Kahlo's triumphant show in Mexico City.  The segment opened with "One Women Show, a newsreel," which captured the celebrity Kahlo achieved in juxtaposition with the fragility of the aging artist.  The "Dream" sequence illustrated Kahlo's death.  "Gallery: Self Portrait with Cropped Hair (1940)" was, perhaps, the most controversial and personal.  The intention was to illustrate a contemporary struggle while recreating the Kahlo painting.  The effect was confessional and quite stirring.
PERFORMED:
The Globe
199 North Lumpkin
Athens, Georgia
June 5, 1998
M. Smith Griffith Auditorum
Georgia Museum of Art
90 Carlton Street
The University of Georgia
Athens, Georgia
July 24, 1998
Penny University Coffee House
224 Main Street
Gainesville, Georgia
July 25, 1998
REFERENCE PAINTINGS ATHENS BANNER-HERALD article
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