Women disappear. We have to search hard to find women in our history books, the literary canon, classical music, art history and the history of drama, where women are footnotes, if there at all. Their work was “amateur” (because they weren’t allowed to be professional) and was neither respected nor documented. And therefore, they disappear.
Frida Kahlo, obfuscated by her “genius” husband for most of her life, was too feisty to allow herself to disappear. She wasn’t a “nice” woman or a “good girl.” She made herself seen. She forced herself to look at herself. She studied and painted and saw herself “as she truly is.” Frida reached a level of realness with herself, both inside and out that few women had documented before her. She showed the world her truth, her vulnerability and her humanity. That was a revolutionary act.
We are drawn to self-portraits, memoirs and other forms of autobiography because they make us feel seen and not so alone. This becomes even more important when history tries to make some of us disappear: Women, people of color, people with disabilities, queer people and trans people across the world look at Frida’s self-portraits and see themselves because they recognize the pain she articulates so well in her work. Frida has given the world a gift by being so authentically herself. She is all of us, and we can see that we exist because she existed. She gives us permission to value ourselves, our lives, our pain, our thoughts and our feelings just as she did.
Frida…A Self Portrait is a self-portrait of both the historical figure and performer Vanessa Severo. An actor expresses themselves by interpreting others. As an actor, what better way to create a self-portrait than to perform someone else? This self-portrait – which is as beautiful and honest as Frida was – is created with the paints of an actor’s toolbox: language, characters, accents, movement, puppetry and creative play. In this highly theatrical world on stage, we witness a conversation Vanessa has been having with Frida for years. As the piece unfolds, there are moments when the lines become blurred between the actor and the character. What we are left with is pure Frida and pure Vanessa, both searching to be seen and understood, reaching a hand out to all the other “strange” people in the world through their honest expression of self. Not disappearing…and urging us not to disappear.