Frida Kahlo’s life seen through her possessions



From the glamour suggested by two almost empty bottles of bright Revlon nail polish to a tiny hammer and sickle stitched in red on a custom-made corset, a series of photographs on display this week at the Michael Hoppen Gallery in London hint at the carefully constructed public identity and exuberant inner life of the artist Frida Kahlo.

Kahlo died in 1954 and her personal possessions remained locked in darkness, in the bathroom of the home in Mexico City that she shared with her husband, the painter Diego Rivera. Rivera commanded that the room remain sealed until 15 years after his own death, which occurred in 1957, but it was not until 2004, almost 50 years later, that the Museo Frida Kahlo decided to catalogue its contents.

The Japanese photographer Ishiuchi Miyako was invited to travel to Mexico, a country entirely unfamiliar to her, to photograph more than 300 relics from Kahlo’s life. It was to be an extraordinary project that fostered a surprising intimacy between the subject and the woman behind the lens, as the gallery owner explained in an interview with the BBC this week.

“I said to Ishiuchi, it’s like standing in a room and listening to a conversation between both of you because you are not simply recording what she wore, you are highlighting her character. And in that sense that conversation is fascinating. It’s all the things you want to hear are somehow brought to the fore,” Michael Hoppen says.

Invalided by polio as a child and a near-fatal accident at 18 when a bus she was riding was hit by a tram, Kahlo had to wear a corset to support her body, and much later a prosthesis after her leg was amputated in 1953.

Kahlo chose the traditional Tehuana dresses that Miyako photographed to assert a cultural sense of belonging but, perhaps, just as importantly for a female artist whose name became synonymous with the self-portrait, they concealed her physical imperfections. And all this at a time when bleached and stylised Hollywood actresses were the feminine ideal of beauty.

The extraordinary reds, yellows and turquoises that leap out from Miyako’s prints convey Kahlo’s equally vivid and undeniable presence just as the bells on the laces of her prosthetic leg made sure you could hear the artist coming.

As Hoppen puts it: “Kahlo swam against the tide almost every day. And she won. She was a true original.”

Frida by Ishiuchi Miyako (2013) is being shown at the Michael Hoppen Gallery in London until July 12. For all enquiries, visit www.michaelhoppengallery.com.

A MINECRAFT MOVIE

Director: Jared Hess

Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa

Rating: 3/5

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  • Wear the right fabric for the right season and occasion 
  • Always ask for the dress code if you don’t know
  • Wear a white kandura, white ghutra / shemagh (headwear) and black shoes for work 
  • Wear 100 per cent cotton under the kandura as most fabrics are polyester

Don’ts 

  • Wear hamdania for work, always wear a ghutra and agal 
  • Buy a kandura only based on how it feels; ask questions about the fabric and understand what you are buying
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1.           Alice Debany Clero (USA) on Amareusa S 38.83 seconds

2.           Anikka Sande (NOR) For Cash 2 39.09

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4.           Nadia Taryam (UAE) Askaria 3 39.63

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Real estate tokenisation project

Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.

The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.

Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.

Election pledges on migration

CDU: "Now is the time to control the German borders and enforce strict border rejections" 

SPD: "Border closures and blanket rejections at internal borders contradict the spirit of a common area of freedom" 

In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe

Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010

Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille

Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm

Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year

Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”

Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners

TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013 

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Indoor Cricket World Cup - Sept 16-20, Insportz, Dubai

2025 Fifa Club World Cup groups

Group A: Palmeiras, Porto, Al Ahly, Inter Miami.

Group B: Paris Saint-Germain, Atletico Madrid, Botafogo, Seattle.

Group C: Bayern Munich, Auckland City, Boca Juniors, Benfica.

Group D: Flamengo, ES Tunis, Chelsea, (Leon banned).

Group E: River Plate, Urawa, Monterrey, Inter Milan.

Group F: Fluminense, Borussia Dortmund, Ulsan, Mamelodi Sundowns.

Group G: Manchester City, Wydad, Al Ain, Juventus.

Group H: Real Madrid, Al Hilal, Pachuca, Salzburg.

'Munich: The Edge of War'

Director: Christian Schwochow

Starring: George MacKay, Jannis Niewohner, Jeremy Irons

Rating: 3/5