By Salwa Samir Celebrating the birth and death anniversary of Mexican painter Frida Kahlo (July 6, 1907 – July 13, 1954), Egyptian photographer Gehad Saad, a big fan of this great self-portrait artist, decided to celebrate the two occasions in his own way – a photo session. "I adore Frida and her work so much, I have even hung her portrait in my home and I place it on the cover of my mobile phone. The idea of the photo session came to me some months ago, when my friend Reham and I met to talk about work. Reham is a good makeup artist. I looked at her face and at Frida's on my mobile cover and was astonished to notice a big resemblance," said Saad. "I immediately suggested a Frida photo session and Reham agreed, without a second thought," Saad told the Egyptian Mail. The Egyptian photographer spent a long time in preparing the background and atmosphere of the Kahlo photo session. He preferred to hold the session indoors, not in front of Cairo's landmarks for two reasons. "The first reason is that I know that most of Kahlo's photos were taken inside her home. The second is that taking photos near or inside landmarks costs money and requires a licence," he said. So, Saad was keen to choose a place that resembled Frida's house and its colours. The roof of Reham's house was the answer, after they painted the walls blue and yellow, like the colours in most of Kahlo's paintings. "When I started photographing the model, I really felt that Kahlo's spirit was around," he said. Kahlo was a prominent artist who painted many portraits, self-portraits, and works inspired by the nature and artefacts of Mexico. During her life, she had many ups and downs. When she was a child, Kahlo suffered a bout of polio and during that time she took up art and received drawing lessons from her father's friend. She spent her time filling notebooks with sketches. Another tragic event happened to her at 18 when she was involved in a bus accident which was left in lifelong pain. During her recovery, she returned to her childhood hobby of art with the idea of becoming an artist. Kahlo was interested in politics as well. In 1927, she joined the Mexican Communist Party, through which she met the famous and muralist Diego Rivera whom she married a year later. The couple spent the late 1920s and early 1930s travelling in Mexico and the US. During that period, Kahlo developed her own style as an artist, drew her main inspiration from Mexican folk culture, and painted mostly small self-portraits which mixed elements from pre-Columbian and Catholic mythology. Kahlo's first solo exhibition was held in New York in 1938. One year later, it was followed by another in Paris. Throughout the 1940s, Kahlo took part in exhibitions in Mexico and the United States. Due to her weak health, Kahlo died in 1954 at the age of 47, a year after she held her first solo exhibition in Mexico. By the early 1990s, Kahlo had become not only a famous figure in art history, but also an icon for the Feminist Movement. Saad said he hoped that his work will shed light on Kahlo's life and work and her influence on artists. He was interested in presenting not only Kahlo's features through the resemblance with the model, but also her clothes and poses. When he posted the session's photos on his Facebook page "Robabkia Photography", his followers were surprised to see the close resemblance between the model and Kahlo. One astonished follower commented: "I can't believe my eyes." Another wrote: "If I hadn't known that she was dead, I would have said those photos were of Kahlo."
