The Frida Kahlo Park is located within a short distance from the Frida Kahlo Museum, AKA Casa Azul. While the museum has welcomed visitors since 1958, the park opened in 1984, when Kahlo’s international fame grew. The renowned Mexican sculptor Gabriel Ponzanelli sculpted the three sculptures in the park. The first artwork depicts Frida Khalo and Diego Rivera standing, another of Khalo sitting on a pedestal in the shape of a pyramid, modeled after Mexico City’s historic Mesoamerican city Teotihuacan; the third artwork is of a seated woman at the center of the fountain. Ponzanelli came from a long legacy of artists. When he was eight years old, his father, Octavio, a famous sculptor, sent him to live with the Kahlos for one month. Then-president Miguel de la Madrid Hurtado commissioned the statue of Kahlo and set an unrealistic deadline of one week, which Ponzanelli could meet. Throughout her life, Frida Kahlo (1907-1954) faced enormous physical and emotional challenges, which she channeled to art and became one of the world’s most famous Mexican artists. Kahlo took up painting after a tragic trolley accident at age 18 left her with severe injuries, including a broken spine. Confined to her bed for months, Kahlo began painting self-portraits to combat boredom and depression. Her richly symbolic, Surrealist-influenced works drew on Mexican folk art and explored taboo themes like female sexuality, infertility, and the female experience. Though she struggled with poor health her whole life, she produced an impressive body of work – around 200 paintings, drawings, and sketches. Kahlo had a tumultuous marriage to fellow artist Diego Rivera but later came into her own as an artist, feminist icon, and pioneer of Mexican cultural heritage. Regarded today as one of history’s great avant-garde artists, she integrated themes of revolution and indigenous pride with a deeply personal visual language. Read more...

On September 25th, 2021, several women’s rights groups and organized collectives, including indigenous and Afro-Mexican women, mothers of victims of femicide, and survivors of femicidal violence, installed a 6-foot wooden sculpture called Antimonumenta Vivas Nos Queremos (Anti-monument We Want Us Alive), later known as Justicia, on an empty pedestal in Mexico City’s Christopher Columbus roundabout. The purple statue of a woman with her left fist raised was installed to protest the country’s crisis of violence against women. The feminists renamed the site the “Glorieta de las Mujeres que Luchan” (Roundabout of Women Who Fight) and painted the names of murdered and disappeared women on the protective fencing. Since then, Justicia has become a focal point for feminist activism through events, memorials, and protest art installed by various collectives. Among the installations were complaints clotheslines, inspired by The Clothesline Project by Mónica Mayer, a pink cross, the hanging of photos of the missing and murdered, and a Day of the Dead altar. The square has become the meeting point for symbolic marches, including International Women’s Day (March 8th) and International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women (November 25th). On March 5th, 2022, a 7-foot metal replica of Justicia and Jardín de la Memoria (the Garden of Memory) was installed. Despite government attempts to relocate the sculpture, widespread opposition has kept Justicia in place. In February 2023, the city announced Justicia would stay alongside a newly added replica of the ancient sculpture Young Woman of Amajac, replacing the Columbus statue that was removed in 2020. The Young Woman of Amajac statue was dedicated on July 23rd, 2023. The 15-foot sculpture represents an indigenous woman and was carved out of volcanic rock from Amecameca. The original is 1.7 feet tall, estimated to have been created between 1450 and 1521, and is on display at Álamo Temapache Municipality, Veracruz, where it was found in 2021. The anti-monument has sparked debate over Mexico City’s public spaces, memory, and historical narratives. To the feminists, Justicia represents the fight for justice by women throughout Mexican history, from indigenous groups to modern activists. However, critics claim such unsanctioned installations harm feminism or speak without consensus. Nonetheless, Justicia’s prominence and persistence have elevated critical discussions on gender inequality, femicide, and the right to commemoration. As of 2022, between 11 to 13 women were murdered every day, and more than 30 people disappeared in Mexico. Read more...

On March 6, 2023, Mexico made history as the first state in the Americas and maybe in the world, dedicating a commemorative walk in the most important avenue of the capital with 14 statues of notable women who shape the history of Mexico. The project’s purpose was to restore history, correct the lack of sculptures of historical women on the Paseo de la Reforma, the home to many statues of notable Mexican men, celebrate Mexican women’s heritage, and recognize their contributions to society. As part of the ongoing project, the first statues were dedicated in 2020, and the lasts were formally unveiled just before International Women’s Day in 2023 by Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo, the first woman Head of Government, and Beatriz Gutiérrez Müller, the honorary president of the Advisory Council of the National Coordination of Historical and Cultural Memory of Mexico. Meet the heroines who are commemorated on the avenue: Agustina Ramírez Heredia (1813-1879) was a Mexican heroine who allowed 12 of her 13 children to fight and sacrifice their lives while protecting Mexico from French intervention. Anonymous Mexican Forjadoras de la República is a statue that commemorates the women who have preserved their languages and culture. Carmen Serdán Alatriste (1873-1948) was a Mexican revolutionary who co-founded the National Anti-Reelection Party and fought the dictatorship of Porfirio Díaz. Dolores Jiménez y Muro (1850-1925) was a teacher, feminist, and social-political activist who promoted equality for women and indigenous people and was active during the Mexican Revolution, fighting alongside Emiliano Zapata. Elvia Carrilo Puerto (1878-1968), also known as “The Red Nun,” was a feminist and social activist who founded some of Mexico’s first feminist organizations. In 1923, she became the first woman state deputy. Hermila Galindo (1886-1954) was a writer and feminist who advocated for women’s suffrage, equal rights, and sex education in schools. Gertrudis Bocanegra (1765-1817) lost her husband and son in the Mexican War of Independence and became a soldier. She was captured, tortured, and executed for treason. Bocanegra is knonwn as “La Heroína de Pátzcuaro” (The Heroine of Pátzcuaro). Josefa Ortiz de Domínguez (1768-1829), alongside her husband Miguel Domínguez, Corregidor of Querétaro, had a significant role in the conspiracy plans for the Mexican War of Independence from Spain. Juana Belén Gutiérrez de Mendoza (1875-1942) was a social-political activist, feminist, advocate of Mexican women’s voting rights, journalist, and poet. Leona Vicario (1789-1842) was a journalist, intellectual, feminist, social activist, prominent contributor, and leader in the Mexican War of Independence. She is considered one of the founding mothers of Mexico. Margarita Maza (1826-1871) was the wife, advisor, and partner of President Benito Juárez and the first lady of Mexico from 1858 to 1864 and 1867 to 1871. Matilde Montoya (1859-1939) was the first Mexican female physician, earning her M.D. in 1887, and a champion for equal rights and opportunities for women. Sara Pérez Romero (1870-1952) became known as the First Lady of the Revolution for her work in the anti-reelection movement alongside Carmen Serdán Alatriste. She was the wife and political partner of the 37th President of Mexico, Francisco I. Madero. Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz (1648-1695) was a writer, philosopher, composer, poet, and Hieronymite nun. She wrote about love and feminism and gathered female leaders of colonial Spain in her salon. Her work contributed to early Spanish literature and the Spanish Golden Age. Read more...

Frida Kahlo passed away in 1954, but her legacy is still leaving in her paintings and her museum in Mexico City, also known as Casa Azul, the blue house, named after the color of its exterior walls. In this home, she was born, grew up, lived, and died. Since July 1958, it hosts the Frida Kahlo Museum. Kahlo was a Mexican feminist and one of the most female painters in the world. Her paintings were inspired by the Mexican folk culture and expressed events in her life, like miscarriages and chronic pain. She was married to the famous artist Diego Rivera, and the couple also lived in this house for several years before Kahlo died. In this house, Kahlo painted, and they held their bohemian gatherings and met with notable people. Upon her death, Rivera followed Kahlo’s wish and donated the house to become a museum. With hundreds of thousands of visitors every year, the museum is a living memory of Kahlo’s life, legacy, and inspiration. The exhibitions are displayed in the rooms of the house, which look as they were in the 1950s. In the collection are- Kahlo’s personal items, such as her clothes, jewelry, furniture, photographs, books, and more. There are paintings of Kahlo and Rivera and their Mexican folk art collection. The house has a beautiful inner courtyard garden. A 20-minute walk from the house is the Frida Kahlo Park, where two statues of Kahlo stand. If you wish to explore deeper and see more places about Kahlo in Mexico City join one of these guided tours: Frida Kahlo, Coyoacán and Xochimilco Frida Kahlo and floating gardens Frida Kahlo Tour with Admission Tickets Read more...