Frida Kahlo was an artist and a woman full of complex symbolism. Her face is a wilting flower- which represents the pain she went through in her life- physically and emotionally. The tropical foliage represents her home- Coyoacan, Mexico. The gold skull represents the bus accident that drastically injured Frida. The story goes that at the time of the accident-there was a painter aboard with a bucket of flecks of gold leaf paint. When the bus crashed and Frida lay there close to death-the gold leaf was falling through the air like confetti. The juxtaposition of life and death, beauty and macabre- was central to Frida’s work. Her necklace is compromised of tiny papel picado- paying homage to her proud Mexican roots.

This is a replicated print of one of my original, hand cut collages. The print is on high quality, archival, 80# paper.