Message from Frida Kahlo: Appearances can be deceiving. Despite everything, Viva La Vida!

Frida Kahlo is an artist who reflects her life and image on her own terms with her self-portraits. In his works, he presents his Mexican identity, his pain, his mustache and his one-piece eyebrow as they are. Her story is a hero’s journey of the most powerful woman in the world.

A strong feminist, Kahlo’s thick eyebrow epitomizes the statement: “I will not stop myself from expressing myself to meet your expectations of what a woman should look like.” Kahlo’s eyebrow, along with the deformity in her leg from her childhood, is a symbolic challenge that rejects who she is and stereotypes about female attractiveness.

When the commercially perfect Frida Kahlo “Barbie” was introduced in 2018, her idealized physical proportions and features seemed to garner universal approval. However, the fact that his eyebrows were shaved and his mustache and beard were not visible caused great controversy; This effort was seen as devaluing Kahlo’s authentic expression, nourished by the traumas of her life and art.

In her last work depicting watermelons filled with vibrant pink and green colors, Kahlo leaves this farewell message that will leave a strong and lasting impact on generations, despite her life full of difficulties and pain: “Viva la Vida” (Long Live Life).

He is not a hero who tries to resemble each other in order to get approval from society with his appearance, but a hero who searches for his self-awareness in his originality, can find it and most importantly, can express it, and is fed by the shadow.

Kahlo’s unconventional and eye-catching eyebrow speaks to how she challenged contrived beauty ideals in the ‘40s that are still progressive today. Her image remains a powerful source of inspiration for women who feel that the idealized notion of “normal” is imposed on them by narrow social norms.

Note: Sophia Hadijipanteli is a model from southern Cyprus who attracts attention with her Frida’s eyebrow style.