Posted March 8, 2013, Created April 2009
This was one of the most enjoyable afternoons ever spent creating. My dear friend, Lily Susan Lash, was experimenting with her awesome photographic ideas. She wanted to explore the idea of capturing the essence of someone who had taken on the persona of someone with whom they connected. I, of course, was all for this idea and eagerly agreed to be a guinea pig.
Frida was a wildly creative artist who was never afraid to look directly at and into herself. Or rather, if she was afraid, she did it anyway. I love that about her and I think it’s one of the main reasons she has become such an incredible presence 60 years after her death. We’re intrigued by her boldness to be herself.
We spent hours preparing for this – hair piled on top of my head, real roses bobby pinned in place with some greenery added for a full crown, earrings received as a gift from my art mentor Ilene – straight from Mexico, a plaster corset I had made around myself in earlier days of my Frida exploration, and, of course, bright red lipstick and a penciled in brow usually waxed clean. This meticulous process of creating the ‘look’ enabled me to fully drop into her space, her wildness, her independence.
Then with a little of Lily Susan’s magic of photography and digitizing, Ellen + Frida = Artista Elena.
