Thorns and Hummingbird

Thorns and Hummingbird is part of a series inspired by Frida Kahlo's life and works. I use pelvic bones as a symbol of reproduction and therefore womanhood, as women are so often reduced to merely this, but in this series I associate the female pelvis particularly with Kahlo as she lived with physical pain due to a ghastly accident in adolescence that resulted in at least 15 fractured bones, including her spine and pelvis, as well as the emotional pain of being unable to carry a pregnancy due to these injuries. It seemed so much of her life revolved around the physical and emotional purposes of her pelvis and yet, she lived as she wished, even if that meant rejecting gender norms of the time. She would not be chained by expectations of how she should dress or who she should love and, thus, her life was as much an expression of creativity as her art. Thorns and Hummingbird references one of Kahlo’s self-portraits.