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...