If you weren't already aware, March is women's history month! Now more than ever, women need to come together to celebrate our accomplishments and push for further progress. There are countless powerful and influential women throughout history to commemorate, but Frida Kahlo may be one of the most surprising. Here are some awesome and interesting facts about her life to ~inspire~ some feminine pride.
Frida is well known for her beautiful paintings, but did you know she was self taught? Impressive considering I need help drawing stick figures.
She also began painting after she had been in a terrible bus accident that caused her to require 30 surgeries, and left her bound to a hospital bed for over a year. While many people would suffer and complain, she found an outlet through painting, and stayed strong through it all.
Frida was an open bisexual. While this may not seem like a huge deal now, thanks to the progress we've made, she lived in the early to mid 1900's, where open expression of sexuality was not as acceptable. However, she wasn't afraid to embrace who she was, which helped set a precedent for the change to come.
She was vocal about her miscarriages and inability to have children. Frida wrote letters describing the pain she felt from not being able to give birth (likely a result from the bus accident), and painted a portrait to signify her suffering. This struggle could have broken Frida completely, but she still channeled her pain into art and refused to let anything tear herself apart.
To truly understand how strong and powerful Frida Kahlo was, picture this: Frida is being held in a hospital bed, while her paintings are being displayed at an art show. Doctors' advise her not to leave her bed, because she is still in recovery. However, people at the art show describe Frida pulling up to the event in an ambulance, stepping out of it like a limousine. Let this image remind you of your strength throughout women's history month and beyond. Hopefully, with a bit of courage and support from our fellow females, we can all find our inner Frida.