black stained high fire stoneware; gold foil and stainless-steel needle

The constant appearance of monkeys in Frida Kahlo's paintings carries a deep emotional charge. At the Casa Azul in Coyoacán, Frida had several monkeys as pets. According to Frida, her pets symbolized the children she was never able to have due to the devastating tram accident she suffered when she was young. The accident led to three abortions and multiple health problems, leaving her with deep psychological wounds that are reflected in her paintings.

Her self-portraits candidly expose the painful aspects of her life, and in many of them, she appears with a brave expression, accompanied by monkeys that wrap around her like a protective blanket, their limbs intertwined with her aching body. The monkeys are depicted as children affectionately embracing their mother, alleviating her loneliness. Frida's favorite monkey, Fulang Chang, often features as a prominent figure in her self-portraits.

For this exhibition, I draw on these references, creating four black primates with long arms that connect to each other, attached to clothing, capturing Frida's relationship with her pets, who accompanied her throughout her life and helped ease her pain.

"They thought I was a surrealist, but I wasn't. I never painted my dreams. I painted my own reality." – Frida Kahlo