Frida – with the last name, Kahlo. She is one of my Mexican heroines.
Her blue house was my playground, while growing up as a little girl in Coyoacán. In her self-portraits and paintings, I got acquainted with Mexico, politics, death, pain, love, tragedy and the female anatomy. Her personal story and believe in love as an aspiration, is an inspiration.
Hype or icon? Judge for yourself. Google has developed a really cool platform on line – Arts & Culture – that lets you into Frida Kahlo’s world, without having to travel all the way to Mexico.
Andrea – She is a friend, a fantastic contemporary artist and woman. We met each other on an airplane from Paris to Mexico City, back in 2009. And so began an unlikely friendship between us, two complete strangers, confiding in each other 10,000 km up in the air.
Andrea works with images, visuals and video, in a male dominated world, based in the largest city in the world. She is a heroine of mine because, she manages to live off her art and travels with it all over the world. Her exploration of strange and fantastic worlds will keep you wondering about the strangest aspects of life, about “das unheimliche”. See for yourself: Fantastico Encarnado.
Alejandra – She is my cousin, and my closest relative on the Mexican side of my family. She is the social glue in the family, that one person who ties us together and keeps insisting, although we lead very different lives and have very, different outlooks and opportunities.
She cooks for us, throws parties for us, and she tells me the stories about our family, my dad never thought of telling me. She lives in Oaxaca, and her home is always open. Alejandra works for the local cultural department in Oaxaca, but recently she and her friends have set up a restaurant on Sundays in her home. So on Sundays, Alejandra now cooks and sells chilaquiles – the quintessential Mexican breakfast – if you ask me.
If you want to try local traditional food, made with local ingredients and toooons of love. Be sure to check out La Chilaqueria de Ale & Co. next time you are in Oaxaca. I know I will.
