Abstract

Frida Kahlo and Ana Mendieta are female artists of color who use blood and hair to connect to their homelands, work through trauma, speak out against violence against women and redefine femininity. Surrealistic elements and portraiture allow Kahlo to represent her personal experience and connect to her Mexican heritage with clothing, flora, animals and musical references. Mendieta connects to her Cuban roots by reverting back to her birthplace and so creates a sense of belonging and sanctuary with her body. Blood is a symbol and a metaphor that aligns both artists by topics of violence, death and loss. Specifically, Kahlo and Mendieta include blood and body imagery to draw attention to violent acts against women in their communities. Hair imagery in Kahlo’s paintings display rejection of the idea that her long hair defines her ability to be beautiful or feminine according to the male gaze. Mendieta plays with facial hair, specifically on her own face to challenge the ideas of gender roles and the ways in which body hair on women is regulated by social norms. This paper argues that the symbols of blood and hair allow Kahlo and Mendieta to combat the male gaze, redefine codes of femininity beyond sexual objectification and eradicate the confines for women in the art world.

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