Frida Kahlo, The Immersive Biography opens in Brooklyn
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“Frida Kahlo, The Immersive Biography” has arrived in Brooklyn. A co-creation between the Frida Kahlo Corporation and Layers of Reality, a Spanish digital arts center, the immersive biographical exhibition spans seven different transformational spaces and includes an award-winning VR experience enabling the visitor to enter the life and work of the Mexican artist who, in the 21st century, continues to inspire and be more relevant than ever.
The exhibit, also dubbed “Frida Kahlo, The Life of an Icon," showcases how the artist’s aesthetic continues to be influential to everything from fashion to feminism to inclusivity. Over the years her look has inspired designers such as Jean Paul Gaultier, Dolce & Gabbana and Ricardo Tisci at Givenchy. Her bold unibrow challenged beauty standards not only of her time but which are slow to be dismantled even today, and her pride in her Mexican roots she literally wore on her sleeve. She donned the traditional Tehuana dress whether to schmooze with the Rockefellers and Henry Ford in New York or to exhibit her art with Picasso and Marcel Duchamp in Paris. Flamboyant, charming and intensely patriotic, the look was completed with a high chignon accentuated with a garland of flowers and dangling earrings. Contemporary examples of Kahlo’s signature full skirts, and embroidered blouses created by the Oaxacan matriarchal society from the Isthmus of Tehuantepec are on display in the exhibit.
Fashion icon Frida Kahlo continues to influence and inspire
Kahlo’s colorful layers and vibrant textiles served not only as vehicles of creative self-expression but also to conceal the serious injuries from the 20 bone fractures, many to the spine, that she incurred in a tram accident when she was eighteen years old and which caused her extreme pain for the remainder of her life. The jewelry, flowers, and bold lip she wore were designed to draw the gaze upwards, towards her face. Underneath her clothes she wore back braces, shoes with a built up sole and in her later years a prosthetic leg. But as her body deteriorated her artistic output soared, even though she often had to create from the confines of her bed.
Showcasing a combination of digital art, historical photographs, projections, and installations, the exhibit allows the visitor to walk, or in some cases turn in circles, to catch the ever changing imagery bouncing off the walls. The emblems from Kahlo's creative world are most affectingly communicated through a VR experience exclusive to those who purchase VIP tickets which transports the guest on an exhilarating trip along the dirt main street of a Mexican town lined with technicolor classic cars while flowers spin and watermelon slices whizz by your nose, and hummingbirds flutter among tropical flora and fauna, and the magnolia, pear cactus flower and other assorted elements of Kahlo’s beloved garden dance with skulls and fruit.
“Frida Kahlo, The Immersive Biography” is billed as a 90-minute walkthrough experience and runs from October 27 at the Immersive Pavilion in Brooklyn at 261 Water Street.