IS FRIDA KAHLO GUILTY OF CULTURAL APPROPRIATION?
An article in Hyperallergic by Joanna García Cherán dissects Frida Kahlo’s dress as cultural appropriation of indigenous people.
“In 2019, I visited the bustling Casa Azul, Frida Kahlo’s colorful home-turned-museum. As a cultural worker and frequent museum goer, I was excited to enter this shrine for Kahlo lovers. As a full-blooded Purépecha woman, however, I felt out of place. La Casa Azul immediately stood out to me as the epitome of Mexican racial politics. Beyond the large contingent of foreign tourists, the Mexican audience was nothing like me: They were light-skinned, urbane, and uncritically fascinated by Kahlo. I left Casa Azul feeling disappointed and disenfranchised.
A Frida Kahlo wooden cutout in San Francisco’s Mission District in 2021 (photo by Joanna García Cherán)