Photo session from Kirill Stanoev, inspired by the image of the unforgettable Frida Kahlo

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

“I paint myself because I spend a lot of time alone and because I am the topic that I know best” - this is perhaps one of the most famous aphorisms of the Mexican artist Frida Kahlo … Modern bulgarian photographer Kirill Stanoev in a series of works he tried to recreate the image of this iconic woman.

The fate of Frida Kahlo, constantly struggling with difficulties, is admirable. Her life path is an example of courage with which to resist diseases: as a child, she contracted polio, suffering from lameness throughout her life, later she received terrible injuries, having been in a car accident, forever deprived of the opportunity to live a full life and experience the joy of motherhood.

Frida began to paint pictures while bedridden. A special stretcher was made for the girl, on which it was possible to draw reclining, and a mirror was installed under the canopy of the bed. So the first self-portrait was written, later Frida constantly painted herself, studying her body to the smallest detail.

The image of Frida Kahlo in Kirill Stanoev's photo shoot was embodied by the model Donna Bangiozova. The maximum similarity with the Mexican artist was achieved thanks to the efforts of makeup artist Diana Stoyanova and hairdresser Stanislav Ivanov. The photographer captured the model in the "creative process" with a brush against the canvas, warm tones and her pensive gaze helped to convey the inner world of the artist, whose life was filled with suffering and sadness. However, in the works there is also a life-affirming pathos, that inner core that did not let Frida give up and allowed her not to ruin her strong-willed disposition in life's ups and downs. By the way, the image of the unforgettable Frida not so long ago inspired another contemporary artist Mario Soria to create her portrait in the style pop Art.