Much
media attention has previously focused on the UK Prime Minister’s
shoes. That attention has now switched to accessories, specifically
to a bracelet Teresa May wore at the recent Tory Party conference.
The
bracelet, a set of colourful, chunky rectangles, reproduces images of
the Mexican artist Frida Kahlo, who wrote about her work, in a 1951
dairy entry,
I feel
uneasy about my painting. Above all I want to transform it into
something useful for the Communist revolutionary movement, since up
to now I have only painted the earnest portrayal of myself.
The
work of such an artist makes an unlikely accessory for a Conservative
and Unionist Party leader. But, on reflection, perhaps not. In these
globalised post-modern days, every image and artefact is available to
everyone with the money to buy it and it can mean whatever the
purchaser wishes.
What
was Teresa May thinking when she chose that bracelet?
Did
she wish to have a dig at her rival, Jeremy Corbyn, exhibiting her
ability to appropriate material Jeremy Corbyn and his colleagues
might consider theirs? Was she aping the self-fashioning so grandly
displayed by pop singer Madonna, one of the most avid collectors of
the work of Frida Kahlo? Or did she just like the shape, the weight
and the colour of the bracelet and have no idea about the life of
Frida Kahlo, her politics and her work?
Will
Jeremy Corbyn
be seen with a Winston Churchill tie-pin and British Bulldog
cuff-links next time out?
Similar
Frida Kahlo bracelets retail on-line for £31.57.
Did
a simple, uninformed consumer choice lead to the unintended
consequence of a coughing fit and a public-speaking melt-down,
produced by a communist hex delivered by the bracelet?
Did
Boris Johnson give the bracelet to her, as a present?
Was
she simply showing how culturally hip, metropolitan and
internationalist she is?
More
people may become interested in Frida Kahlo’s life and work as an
artist in Mexico, perhaps another unintended effect of the UK Prime
Minister’s choice of accessory. Everyone can welcome that,
including Jeremy Corbyn and his allies.
Are
these no more than beautiful trinkets worn by the powerful, simply
because, in today’s post-modern, globalised consumer world, they
can, regardless of association, symbolism or meaning?
“We
own everything, because we can buy everything. Even beauty.”
Did
Frida Kahlo know her images and her words would adorn Teresa May,
dreamer of austerity and righteous inequality?
I
never paint dreams or nightmares. I paint my own reality.
I
leave you my portrait so that you will have my presence all the days
and nights that I am away from you.
http://www.fkahlo.com/
https://www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2017/10/06/paul-clinton/theresa-may-and-frida-kahlo/
https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/548943330/frida-kahlo-bracelet-w-big-beads?ref=listing-shop-header-0
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