Gay Artist: Frida Kahlo

Frida Kahlo, born Magdalena Carmen Frida Kahlo y Calderón (1907 - 1954), is arguably Mexico’s most famous artist. Inspired by the country's popular culture, she employed a naïve folk art style to explore questions of identity, postcolonialism, gender, class, and race in Mexican society.

Her paintings often had strong autobiographical elements and mixed realism with fantasy. In addition to belonging to the post-revolutionary Mexicayotl movement, which sought to define a Mexican identity outside of European colonialism, Kahlo has been described as a surrealist or magical realist.

Her clothing choices also reflected her determination to define a Mexican identity. She incorporated traditional clothing into her wardrobe as a way to show pride in her Mexican heritage.

Although she was disabled by polio as a child, Kahlo had been a promising student headed for medical school until a traffic accident at age eighteen, which caused her lifelong pain and medical problems. During her recovery, she returned to her childhood hobby of art with the idea of becoming an artist.

Kahlo's interests in politics and art led to her joining the Mexican Communist Party in 1927, through which she met fellow Mexican artist Diego Rivera. The couple married in 1928 and spent the late 1920s and early 1930s traveling in Mexico and the United States. Rivera was by far the better-known artist, but Kahlo did secure her first solo exhibition in New York in 1938.

Kahlo's work as an artist remained relatively unknown until the late 1970s, when her work was rediscovered by art historians and political activists. By the early 1990s, she had become not only a recognized figure in art history but also regarded as an icon for Chicanos, the feminism movement, and the LGBTQ movement.

She had a tumultuous relationship with her husband, Diego Rivera. Both had a number of affairs — some sanctioned and some on the sly. They even divorced for a year and then remarried. Her lovers included a diverse selection of men and women, many of them well-known thinkers and artists in their time. 

( ~ bi.org)

On My Etsy Shop: La Virgen de Guadalupe

On My Etsy Shop: Signed & Matted 5x7 La Virgen de Guadalupe Prints $20. According to official Catholic accounts of the Guadalupan apparitions, during a walk from his home village to Mexico City early on the morning of December 9, 1531, Juan Diego saw a vision of a young girl of fifteen to sixteen, surrounded by light. This event occurred on the slopes of the Hill of Tepeyac. Speaking in the local language of Nahuatl, the Lady asked for a church to be built at that site in her honor. From her words, Juan Diego recognized her as the Virgin Mary. When he told his story to the Spanish bishop, Fray Juan de Zumárraga, the bishop asked him to return and ask the lady for a miraculous sign to prove her claim. The Virgin then asked Juan Diego to gather some flowers from the top of Tepeyac Hill, even though it was winter when no flowers bloomed. There, he found Castilian roses,which were of the Bishop's native home, but not indigenous to Tepeyac. He gathered them, and the Virgin herself re-arranged them in his tilma, or peasant's cloak. When Juan Diego presented the roses to Zumárraga, the image of the Virgin of Guadalupe miraculously appeared imprinted on the cloth of Diego's tilma.

On My Etsy Shop: Santa Muerte

On My Etsy Shop: Signed & Matted 5x7 Santa Muerte Art Prints $20. Nuestra Señora de la Santa Muerte (Spanish for Our Lady of the Holy Death) or, colloquially, Santa Muerte (Holy Death), is a female deity (or folk saint depending on school of thought) in Mexican folk religion, particularly Folk Catholicism, venerated primarily in Mexico and the Southwestern United States. A personification of death, she is associated with healing, protection, and safe delivery to the afterlife by her devotees.

YouTube Treasures: Dia de Los Muertos by Team Whoo Kazoo

YouTube Treasures: What is Day of the Dead? / National Geographic

On My Etsy Shop: La Santa Muerte

On My Etsy Shop: Signed & Matted 5x7 La Santa Muerte Art Prints $20. Nuestra Señora de la Santa Muerte (Spanish for Our Lady of the Holy Death) or, colloquially, Santa Muerte (Holy Death), is a female deity (or folk saint depending on school of thought) in Mexican folk religion, particularly Folk Catholicism, venerated primarily in Mexico and the Southwestern United States. A personification of death, she is associated with healing, protection, and safe delivery to the afterlife by her devotees.

Santa Muerte

“Santa Muerte” is now available over at my #Society6 Shop: (https://society6.com/thecubanwitch) #sharemysociety6

Nuestra Señora de la Santa Muerte (Spanish for Our Lady of the Holy Death) or, colloquially, Santa Muerte (Holy Death), is a female deity (or folk saint depending on school of thought) in Mexican folk religion, particularly Folk Catholicism, venerated primarily in Mexico and the Southwestern United States. A personification of death, she is associated with healing, protection, and safe delivery to the afterlife by her devotees.

La Virgen de Guadalupe

“La Virgen de Guadalupe” is now available over at my #Society6 Shop: (https://society6.com/thecubanwitch) #sharemysociety6

According to official Catholic accounts of the Guadalupan apparitions, during a walk from his home village to Mexico City early on the morning of December 9, 1531, Juan Diego saw a vision of a young girl of fifteen to sixteen, surrounded by light. This event occurred on the slopes of the Hill of Tepeyac. Speaking in the local language of Nahuatl, the Lady asked for a church to be built at that site in her honor. From her words, Juan Diego recognized her as the Virgin Mary. When he told his story to the Spanish bishop, Fray Juan de Zumárraga, the bishop asked him to return and ask the lady for a miraculous sign to prove her claim. The Virgin then asked Juan Diego to gather some flowers from the top of Tepeyac Hill, even though it was winter when no flowers bloomed. There, he found Castilian roses,which were of the Bishop's native home, but not indigenous to Tepeyac. He gathered them, and the Virgin herself re-arranged them in his tilma, or peasant's cloak. When Juan Diego presented the roses to Zumárraga, the image of the Virgin of Guadalupe miraculously appeared imprinted on the cloth of Diego's tilma.

YouTube Treasures: Sugar Skull Halloween Makeup Tutorial

Let the magical marathon begin! Celebrate Halloween all October long

with a new spookirific video post every day!

Feliz Cinco de Mayo

Cinco de Mayo, Spanish for "fifth of May", is celebrated in the United States and regionally in Mexico, where the holiday is called El Día de la Batalla de Puebla (The Day of the Battle of Puebla). It originated with Mexican-American communities in the American West as a way to commemorate the cause of freedom and democracy during the first years of the American Civil War, and today the date is observed in the United States as a celebration of Mexican heritage and pride. In the state of Puebla, the date is observed to commemorate the Mexican army's unlikely victory over French forces at the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862, under the leadership of General Ignacio Zaragoza Seguín.

To celebrate another important part of Mexican heritage, please vist my CafePress Shop, and check out La Virgen de Guadalupe, part of the "Simly Divine" series. La Virgen de Guadalupe is Mexico's most popular religious and cultural image, bearing the titles of the Queen of Mexico, Patroness of the Americas, and Empress of Latin America.

Simply Divine: La Virgen de Guadalupe

La Virgen de Guadalupe
According to official Catholic accounts of the Guadalupan apparitions, during a walk from his home village to Mexico City early on the morning of December 9, 1531, Juan Diego saw a vision of a young girl of fifteen to sixteen, surrounded by light. This event occurred on the slopes of the Hill of Tepeyac. Speaking in the local language of Nahuatl, the Lady asked for a church to be built at that site in her honor. From her words, Juan Diego recognized her as the Virgin Mary. When he told his story to the Spanish bishop, Fray Juan de Zumárraga, the bishop asked him to return and ask the lady for a miraculous sign to prove her claim. The Virgin then asked Juan Diego to gather some flowers from the top of Tepeyac Hill, even though it was winter when no flowers bloomed. There, he found Castilian roses,which were of the Bishop's native home, but not indigenous to Tepeyac. He gathered them, and the Virgin herself re-arranged them in his tilma, or peasant's cloak. When Juan Diego presented the roses to Zumárraga, the image of the Virgin of Guadalupe miraculously appeared imprinted on the cloth of Diego's tilma.