Artist | Brazil

Frida Kahlo, a Mexican painter, is widely known for her self-portraits. Her art has been celebrated internationally as emblematic of Mexican national traditions, and also by feminists for the uncompromising depiction of the female experience and form. But the most inspiring part of her personality was the fact that her self-fulfillment came through a severe injury. At the age of 18 Kahlo was involved in a bus accident, where she got her spinal column, collarbone and ribs broken, right foot crushed and a shulder dislocated. Although she recovered from her injuries and eventually regained her ability to walk, she had relapses of extreme pain for the remainder of her life. It all prevented Kahlo from having a baby - even though she conceived three times, all of her pregnancies had to be terminated.

Despite, and, as historians say, due to that she began to paint. Kahlo created at least 140 paintings, along with dozens of drawings and studies. Of her paintings, 55 are self-portraits which often incorporate symbolic portrayals of physical and psychological wounds. "I never painted dreams. I painted my own reality", - Frida insisted.