Frida Kahlo's descendant to discuss contemporary Mexican photography

Contemporary Mexican photographer Cristina Kahlo will give a free lecture at Santa Fe Community College, 6401 Richards Ave. in Santa Fe, at 4 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 6.

Kahlo, the great-grandniece of the legendary Frida Kahlo, will talk about contemporary Mexican photography.

Mexican photography has received world-wide attention in recent years. Nevertheless, most North Americans remain unaware of the deep influence of photography and photographers in Mexico’s cultural and political life. Kahlo will guide the audience into various themes treated by Mexican photographers in recent decades, from the magical to the political, and from documentaries to the surreal.

Kahlo is one of Mexico’s most prominent contemporary photographers. Her three-decade career follows in the footsteps of her great-grandfather Guillermo Kahlo and father Antonio Kahlo, both celebrated photographers.

Kahlo employs multiple photographic printing techniques in her work, including platinum, cyanotype, heliogravure and color interventions. She has treated subjects such as the feminine universe, geometry, rituals, music, architecture and dance. In addition, she has addressed various aspects of photography and documentary photography, including extensive photographic documentation of children living with disabilities such as autism, Down syndrome and cerebral palsy.

Her most recent work was photographing and cataloging the Frida Kahlo Museum collection. She was awarded the Bartels Foundation Residence Scholarship in Basel, Switzerland (2006-2010). Kahlo’s artistic photography production titled “November Two” was exhibited in several European galleries, including Strasbourg, France; the Galerie Bröetzinger Art in Pforzheim, Germany and the Galerie Bode in Karlsruhe, Germany.

Kahlo also will give a parallel photographic essay on Georgia O’Keeffe and Frida Kahlo at the New Mexico Museum of Art, 107 W. Palace Ave. in Santa Fe at 5:30 p.m. Friday, Aug. 9.

The project gestated when she was asked to photograph Frida Kahlo’s home studio in commemoration of the 65th anniversary of the Casa Azul Museum. In 2023, Kahlo photographed O’Keeffe’s Ghost Ranch and Abiquíu homes.

The lecture is offered by the SFCC’s Art on Campus in collaboration with Carlos Rovelo, trustee and chair, Education and Community Engagement Committee of the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum.

Admission is free.