WEDNESDAY BLOGGING CHALLENGE | A PERSON WHO INSPIRES ME

This week’s prompt is a person who inspires me. This is my second go at this post, because it took me a while to come up with the right person to talk about. Mainly because of everyone I’ve ever known, read, or learned about, the person who inspires me the most is my kid. But I don’t like to share too much about my family on my blog, so I couldn’t find a way to talk about that without feeling uncomfortable with the result. So let me say, for the record, that the actual answer to this is my child.

Having decided not to publish the post I wrote at first, I’ve now decided to talk about another person who has inspired me: Frida Kahlo. I first came across her work when there was an exhibition of it in my town. I was living with several people from Latin America at the time, and dating someone from México, so that also made me feel a stronger connection to her. Her work is so vibrant and full of colour and life – and yet also still imbued with pain and darkness. I love how the two aspects of life coexist in her work, and how she makes them seem like they belong there, side by side.

I later wrote a report on her in college and read the wonderful biography Frida by Hayden Herrera. It’s a long book, but I gobbled it up with as much interest as a fast-paced novel. Such is the life she lived that every page was full of interesting stories, amazing adventures and so much resilience. For those who aren’t familiar, Frida was a Méxican artist (check out some of her paintings here). Her life was full of horrible events. She contracted polio as a child, which caused permanent damage to one of her legs, and meant she was isolated from her peers during her illness and later bullied. She was then in a horrific tram accident in her youth that caused catastrophic injuries: a metal rod pierced her pelvis, perforating her uterus and breaking her spine in three places, her collarbone was broken, her foot was crushed and one leg was broken in eleven places. Due to the damage done to her spine in the accident, she had to endure another long period of confinement as the treatment involved wearing a stiff plaster cast over her whole torso (an image that appears in her paintings). She would experience ongoing pain from her injuries for the rest of her life.

Despite her physical limitations, Kahlo went on to become a feminist and anti-colonial activist, one of Mexico’s most famous and recognizable artists and an icon in popular culture. She lived live to the fullest, even though at times she could barely walk. As someone with multiple medical issues, including chronic back pain, I am always looking for role models who have managed to endure far more then I have without giving up on life. She is an example I often bring to mind.

What about you guys? Who did you choose to discuss this week? Are you familiar with Frida’s life and work? Is she someone you have also been inspired by?

Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge is a blog hop hosted every Wednesday by Long and Short Reviews. The weekly prompts range widely, including both book-related and non-book-related topics. The idea is to get bloggers to interact, share a bit about their lives and connect with other bloggers. Click here for the list of upcoming topics, and visit here to join in the fun!