Tuesday, July 21
6:00 – 9:00 pm
Fonseca-Du Bois Gallery
Indianapolis Liberation Center
1619 Prospect St.
For the third consecutive year, the Fonseca-Du Bois Gallery, powered by Arte Mexicano en Indiana at the Indianapolis Liberation Center, proudly presents “Frida by Colors,” an annual exhibition by artists of color inspired by Frida Kahlo. Since 2024, during Kahlo’s birthday month, we take the time to celebrate and honor the enduring legacy of the revolutionary artist and organizer.
Frida by Colors has become a growing celebration of creativity, resistance, and cultural resistance. Each year, local Indy artists bring their own perspectives, experiences, and artistic voices into conversation with Kahlo’s life and work, demonstrating the various ways her influence continues to inspire new generations of creators.
Paying Tribute to a Revolutionary Artist and Activist
Born on July 7, 1907 in Coyoacan, Mexico City, Magdalena Carmen Frida Kahlo y Calderón was a revolutionary artist and organizer. As an artist, she is particularly well-known for her portraits, self-portraits, and other works that were inspired by Mexican history, culture, politics, and social realities but were often accompanied by strong autobiographical elements. While the tradition of magical realism is evident in all of her work, later in life, Kahlo would categorize her work as “revolutionary realism,” as a contribution to advancing “the line set down by the Party.”
Kahlo was a lifelong revolutionary. She joined the youth wing of the Mexican Communist Party (PCM) at 16-years-old and stayed as a member of the Party after the government of Lázaro Cárdenas outlawed it in 1925. Although Kahlo was expelled from the PCM for a period of time, she continued organizing and later, when her health recovered, rejoined the Party. She died in her hometown on July 13, 1954—still an active communist organizer.
Frida Kahlo understood that art is never separate from the world around us, and that an artist must take sides. Her work explored identity, resilience, love, pain, and liberation while challenging systems of oppression through both her art and her lifelong commitment to revolutionary politics.
That spirit lives on in the artists featured in this year’s exhibition and all are welcome to feel that spirit on the opening night, Tuesday, July 21. We’ll continue building a tradition rooted in solidarity, community, and the transformative power of art.
Whether you’ve joined us in years past or are experiencing “Frida by Colors” for the first time, we invite you to celebrate the artists who remind us that creativity can help imagine, and build, a more just world.
