Frida Kahlo y el problema de la autoría fotográfica. Una aproximación teórica

Abstract

Previous studies of Frida Kahlo’s work focus mainly on her paintings, but Kahlo used other means of expression to develop her creative discourse as well; for example, photography. Frida did not take many photographs in her life, but she did pose for a considerable number of renowned photographers of the first half of the twentieth century. These images have traditionally been regarded as mere reflections of the artist’s eccentric personality, or as samples of the photographer’s work, but never as examples of Kahlo’s own use of the discipline. A more rigorous analysis of this enormous heritage reveals how Frida, through her poses, actually developed certain strategies and formed an artistic dissertation in which she questioned, quite explicitly and in front of the camera, the idea of photographic authority. In this way, she recovered part of the “authorship” which had been denied to her before.