eyes.2c Reviews

Frida in America: The Creative Awakening of a Great Artist   by Celia Stahr         Frida Kahlo. I love her work, her ideas, and the colorfulness of her personality. And yes, when I've visited Mexico I've picked up some wonderful pieces of fun jewelry that represent her, kitsch or not. I enjoy wearing something that harkens to the talented and revolutionary soul Frida was in oh so many ways. This book covers the years Frida spent in the United States and how that influenced her aesthetically and politically. Celia Stahr has captured the person of Frida.  One idea that struck me was that, 'the duality of life for the Aztecs, as for Frida, was a bringing together of opposites. “Everything is all and one."' Added to this was that that "notion of duality remained rooted in the land, and it shaped Frida’s psyche," and is reflected in her work. In its unpacking, a foundational concept about Frida and her creative spirit. Adding relevant art works or ph...

Prayers for the Stole n by Jennifer Clement  I had been watching the U.S.-Mexican version of the series, The Tunnel, so when I saw this title I vaguely thought it might have something to do with disappeared young women in Mexico. It does! Really, anything one might say seems trite in the face of the grim truths related.  It is a bleak comment on the fate of young girls and women in areas of Mexico.  The story is set in the hillside area of Guerrero, an hour from Acapulco. An area that drug lords and dealers have ravaged. A place where the village men might be taken to work drug crops, or where they cross the Border into the U.S. to make a simple living. In the beginning they send money home. Then that dwindles into a trickle and into nothing as the men establish other families, U..S families, as part of their new lives. They women and families in Mexico are left behind, not widows or fatherless, just discarded. They are abandoned and powerless. They fall prey to the ...