http://www.artnet.com/magazineus/reviews/davis/davis8-28-08.aspSelf Image of Frida Kahlo on the border between Mexico and the United States,1932:
Like several of her other paintings the painting that I choose is a self image of herself being pulled in two different directions. The Self Portrait on the Border Between Mexico and the United States, shows that she see’s both places in different ways and to her they could never be irreconcilable. The first thing that grabs my attention is the pink dress and elbow-length white gloves she is wearing. It is if she is going to attend a dinner party. On the left side of the picture is everything that represents Mexico to her. Coming out of the ground are flowers. The skulls and artifacts on the ground represent her Mexican heritage El Dia de los Muertos (the Day of the Dead). This ceremony honors the dead and assures the continuity of life. The sky is clear showing the sun and moon vividly. The building in the picture is an old hand made building showing creativity and hardworking. Everything on the Mexico side is imaged as environmental.
On the right side of the picture is everything that represents the United States to her. You can see the American flag but it is being covered by pollution from huge industrial corporate company’s. An example of one that she names in the picture is Ford. There are pictures of several huge sky buildings on the U.S. side. The picture also shows how American’s use electricity, on the bottom of the picture is a fan, satellite, and a light bulb to indicate the use of electricity. The cords of these objects are implanted in the ground like roots, so instead of seeing flowers and trees you see a mechanized world. Everything on the United States side is imaged as not environmentally friendly to the world, instead we focus more on machinery equipment.
It is clear through the image that she would rather live in Mexico then the United States because in the picture it shows her holding the Mexico Flag. It is where she was born so it makes sense that she would feel comfortable representing Mexico. Reading on her history she had moved to the United States because of Diego Rivera acceptance to work in industrialized company’s. If is wasn’t for her deep commitment to Rivera, Kahlo would have preferred to stay in Mexico were she was comfortable. Frida Kahlo had profound feelings of nationalism for her country and her people, thus this is why I choose this picture because I too have great pride in my country even though we have our flaws.
“High society here turns me off and I feel a bit of rage against all these rich guys here. I have seen thousands in the most terrible misery without anything to eat and with no place to sleep. It is terrible to see the rich having parties day and night while thousands and thousands of people are dying of hunger” - Frida Kahlo
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