New Kahlo’s Pandemic

Title

Description

Hello, everyone! My name is Natalie Pennell-Romero; I am 20 years old and I am a psychology major, aiming towards my career as a children's therapist. My interests include art, music, spiritual learning, spending time with my family and boyfriend. From a very young age I have always been amused by art in all forms, from music flowing through my house whether it be my mother blasting salsa or my dad playing guitar and scribbling with crayons. I sang in school and county competitions when I was younger. However, visual arts has always been a huge part of my life, investing myself in art classes up until high school where it slowly declined because of core classes getting in the way. But I still make art when I can today.

For this assignment, I was challenged to be a bit more creative than I have been in the last couple of years. For my headpiece, I used feathers from my cats' toy and bobby-pinned paper butterflies that I cut out. I also used makeup to illustrate the portrait's unibrow and "peach fuzz." After completing my hair and makeup, I used an old dress that I wore in high school and kept my jewelry on to mimic the thorns around Kahlo's neck. Also the hummingbird in the original piece represents luck to Frida and the crystal inside my necklace symbolizes luck as well. I whipped out my phone in front of natural lighting and shot a single photo. I did some editing to the image and photoshopped a similar background my cats onto my shoulders to imitate the animals.

I mimicked one of most influential, Hispanic female artists of all time, Frida Kahlo in her Self-Portrait with Thorn Necklace and Hummingbird, completed in 1940. I chose this portrait to represent my culture as a fellow Central-American who has had to defy beauty standards and physical illnesses and as a member of the LGBT+ community. I am personally affected by all her works; in a way she tells my stories too. This piece aesthetically resonates with me because it is the desire for love and peace amidst hardships that surround us. This became my own self-portrait in the way it is modernized with my nose jewelry and red hair, and as I am a mixed race woman. And I also have endured many obstacles in my life but I still have a burning hope inside me.

This was a very creative project for me because I had to search around my apartment to find key pieces to recreate the portrait. Furthermore, it stressed the idea that art is everywhere. Of course all things are beautiful or appealing but not many people have the time to really search for it. Being creative in this assignment is not perfectly copying the image but making it my own expression with objects so close yet so far from me.

I think this project is really cool and unique because it allowed humans with a love for expression and culture to join in as a community again at a time when that was not physically possible. Moreover, this challenge is just very fun for anyone, no matter the age, race, sexual orientation, etc.

Creator

Pennell-Romero, Natalie

Date

2021-12-02

Coverage

Greenville, North Carolina

Item