BENDIGO.- Renowned Mexican artist Frida Kahlo had a special relationship with photography, and meticulously accumulated a vast collection of photographs over the course of her life.

This exhibition, Frida Kahlo, her photos draws from the extensive archive of the Casa Azul (Blue House), Kahlo’s former home and now a museum dedicated to this much loved artist’s life and work.

First revealed to the public in 2007, the Casa Azul photographic archive was inaccessible for five decades and consists of more than 6500 images, of which some 241 are shown in this exhibition curated by Mexican photographer and photography historian Pablo Ortiz Monasterio.

Kahlo’s interest in photography began in childhood – both her father, Guillermo Kahlo and her maternal grandfather were professional photographers. Throughout her life she collected images, building an extensive collection of personal photographs, often intervening on them with paint, written words or lipstick kisses. A number were also used as reference material for her work.

The photos capture the interests and obsessions she grappled with throughout her life: her family, her fascination for Diego Rivera and other loves, her friends and enemies, political struggles and art, the pre-Columbian past and her great love for Mexico and its traditions.

Frida Kahlo, her photos also reveals several photographs of her contemporaries including Man Ray, Martin Munkácsi, Edward Weston, Tina Modotti, Pierre Verger, and Lola and Manuel álvarez Bravo.

Frida Kahlo, her photos, Bendigo Art Gallery, 8 December 2018 – 10 February 2019. FREE.

Exclusive to Bendigo Art Gallery in Australia, this exhibition is toured by Terra Esplêndida. Banco de Mexico is the fiduciary of the Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo Museums.