Perhaps what moves us when we look at self-portraiture is its inherent tension. It feels intimate, and yet we are aware that the composition has been carefully engineered for public consumption. If eyes are the window to the soul, then what can we learn from a self-portrait? Take Frida Kahlo, perhaps the world’s most iconic self-portraitist. Much of her enduring legacy, as explored in London’s Victoria & Albert Museum’s summer exhibition, Frida Kahlo: Making Her Self Up, remains centered around the vivid visual power of her person as told through her self-portraits. What do we uncover of Kahlo through them? “In Frida’s case, she was not thinking of becoming famous when This story is from Kinfolk Issue Twenty-Eight Buy Now Related Stories Arts & Culture Issue 46 Puff Piece On inflatable art. Arts & Culture Issue 44 Hannah Traore The art world's next big thing is a gallerist. Arts & Culture Issue 43 The Sellout On the moral maze of art and money. Arts & Culture Issue 42 Dream House The rise of renderporn. Arts & Culture Issue 40 Olalekan Jeyifous On fantastical architecture and sci-fi Brooklyn. Arts & Culture Issue 39 Liana Finck The wobbly-lined cartoonist with a razor-sharp vision.
