Frida Khalo often painted self-portraits. In this piece, created in 1932, we see her standing at the border between Mexico and the United States. She holds a cigarette in one hand and a Mexican flag in the other, perhaps expressing the uncertainty many intellectuals felt about the future of Mexico. During that time, her husband Diego Rivera, was making deals to paint murals in the US, while she was desperately missing her country.
In our version of the painting, Frida Kahlo’s nostalgia is depicted through beautiful and pleasant elements of Mexico, while the US appears hostile, full of industrial elements, factories and chimneys, creating black clouds over America, while Mexico’s are pure and white.