From Mexico to Dallas: Frida Kahlo’s Legacy lives on through food, art and coffee

From KERA News:

It’s Friday afternoon in downtown Garland. Behind a hidden door on West Walnut Street sits a tiny cafe. The whizzes and whirls of the espresso machines and grinding of coffee beans can be heard among the light chatter of customers.

Barista Krystal Tran grabs a plastic cup, fills it with a shot of espresso, milk, Mexican vanilla bean extract, cane sugar and tops it all off with a marshmallow-flavored foam. It’s the shop’s signature drink: the Frida Latte.

“There’s something behind Frida Kahlo’s name that attracts people,” said Zoya Elisura, owner of Cafe Frida.

Elisura and her husband Gerardo Hernandez opened Cafe Frida in February. Elisura describes the cafe as having a “cozy, Cancun” vibe. Inside they have a colorful wall mural that features the cafe’s namesake.

The Frida in this mural is shown with papaya earrings dangling from her ears. She sports an orange, pink and blue flower crown that accentuates her famous unibrow.

“I can relate to her hardships, this woman is so resilient,” Elisura said. “I mean, look at her years and years later, she is still a legend. When you see her face and bold eyebrows, everybody knows her.”

Many people may have seen Frida Kahlo’s art in a museum or a history book. But 70 years after the artist died, her cultural relevance continues to extend beyond her art. There are murals of her across town, T-shirts with her iconic eyebrows and even a restaurant in West Dallas named after her.

“The first time she visited the United States, which was actually New York in 1938, she was very upset because she was coming to ‘gringolandia,’ ” said Gabriel Anaya, co-owner of Frida’s Tacolandia. “ That’s what she called it, it’s gringo land. So that’s where we got taco land or landia in Spanish.”

Frida’s Tacolandia keeps the spirit of Kahlo alive through authentic Mexican cuisine. Anaya and Jose ‘Charlie’ Gonzalez opened the restaurant in January 2022 in West Dallas.

Papel picados and piñatas adorn the ceiling. While portraits of and quotes from Kahlo cover every wall of the restaurant.

“‘Los pies los quiero si tengo alas para volar,’ ” Anaya said. “I think that ‘s very very powerful. ‘Why do I want feet if I have wings to fly.’ That tells you everything, you got your own wings. Use them!”

Fans like Anaya and Elisura continue to find connection in Kahlo’s story. Kahlo created 200 paintings and is known for her self-portraits that tackled themes of identity, pain, life and death. Those relatable themes are what continue to drive people to see her artwork.

In 2017, the Dallas Museum of Art hosted a Mexican art show called, Mexico 1900-1950, and it showcased one of Kahlo’s most famous works, The Two Fridas. It was the second most-visited exhibition in the museum’s history, with thousands of people attending. This August, the museum plans to give Kahlo her own exhibition.

Arteaga said he wants the exhibition to push beyond the myths and legends that surround Kahlo and show the artist as a real person.

“Frida is by far more than that cryptic image that can be so alluring and at the same time so distant,” Arteaga said. “There’s flesh and heart and talent and suffering.”

Kahlo managed to turn that suffering into beautiful art. That’s why Arteaga said she continues to be a role model for so many.

“Her desire of being a mother and her love for motherhood and the fact that she was never able to provide that creates this sort of maternal figure that is there for us, for everyone,” Arteaga said. “She never had children, but I think that somehow it looks like she has adopted everyone that feels attracted to her.”

Frida Beyond the Myth runs from Aug. 18 through Nov. 17 at the Dallas Museum of Art.

Arts Access is an arts journalism collaboration powered by The Dallas Morning News and KERA.

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