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From Mexico to Dallas: Frida Kahlo’s Legacy lives on through food, art and coffee

A menu is seen at Cafe Frida, Tuesday, July 2, 2024, in Garland, Texas. The cafe is named for Mexican painter Frida Kahlo and several drinks are named for Kahlo.
Elías Valverde II
/
The Dallas Morning News
A menu is seen at Cafe Frida, Tuesday, July 2, 2024, in Garland, Texas. The cafe is named for Mexican painter Frida Kahlo and several drinks are named for Kahlo.

It’s Friday afternoon in downtown Garland. Behind a hidden door on West Walnut Street sits a tiny cafe. The whizzes and whirls of the espresso machines and grinding of coffee beans can be heard among the light chatter of customers.

Barista Krystal Tran grabs a plastic cup, fills it with a shot of espresso, milk, Mexican vanilla bean extract, cane sugar and tops it all off with a marshmallow-flavored foam. It’s the shop's signature drink: the Frida Latte.

The Frida Latte pictured at Cafe Frida, Tuesday, July 2, 2024, in Garland, Texas. The drink features Mexican vanilla bean extract, marshmallow foam and Oreo crumbs.
Elías Valverde II
/
The Dallas Morning News
The Frida Latte pictured at Cafe Frida, Tuesday, July 2, 2024, in Garland, Texas. The drink features Mexican vanilla bean extract, marshmallow foam and Oreo crumbs.

“There’s something behind Frida Kahlo’s name that attracts people,” said Zoya Elisura, owner of Cafe Frida.

Elisura and her husband Gerardo Hernandez opened Cafe Frida in February. Elisura describes the cafe as having a "cozy, Cancun" vibe. Inside they have a colorful wall mural that features the cafe's namesake.

The Frida in this mural is shown with papaya earrings dangling from her ears. She sports an orange, pink and blue flower crown that accentuates her famous unibrow.

A mural of Mexican painter Frida Kahlo is seen at Cafe Frida, Tuesday, July 2, 2024, in Garland, Texas.
Elías Valverde II
/
The Dallas Morning News
A mural of Mexican painter Frida Kahlo is seen at Cafe Frida, Tuesday, July 2, 2024, in Garland, Texas.

“I can relate to her hardships, this woman is so resilient,” Elisura said. “I mean, look at her years and years later, she is still a legend. When you see her face and bold eyebrows, everybody knows her.”

Many people may have seen Frida Kahlo’s art in a museum or a history book. But 70 years after the artist died, her cultural relevance continues to extend beyond her art. There are murals of her across town, T-shirts with her iconic eyebrows and even a restaurant in West Dallas named after her.

“The first time she visited the United States, which was actually New York in 1938, she was very upset because she was coming to ‘gringolandia,’ ” said Gabriel Anaya, co-owner of Frida’s Tacolandia. “ That’s what she called it, it's gringo land. So that’s where we got taco land or landia in Spanish.”

Frida’s Tacolandia keeps the spirit of Kahlo alive through authentic Mexican cuisine. Anaya and Jose ‘Charlie’ Gonzalez opened the restaurant in January 2022 in West Dallas.

Frida Kahlo paintings and other authentic Mexican decorations are spread throughout Frida's Tacolandia.<br>
Elías Valverde II
/
The Dallas Morning News
Frida Kahlo paintings and other authentic Mexican decorations are spread throughout Frida's Tacolandia.

Papel picados and piñatas adorn the ceiling. While portraits of and quotes from Kahlo cover every wall of the restaurant.

“ ‘Los pies los quiero si tengo alas para volar,’ ” Anaya said. “I think that 's very very powerful. ‘Why do I want feet if I have wings to fly.’ That tells you everything, you got your own wings. Use them!”

A wall of quotes by Mexican painter Frida Kahlo is seen at Frida's Tacolandia, Tuesday, July 2, 2024, in Dallas.
Elías Valverde II
/
The Dallas Morning News
A wall of quotes by Mexican painter Frida Kahlo is seen at Frida's Tacolandia, Tuesday, July 2, 2024, in Dallas.

Fans like Anaya and Elisura continue to find connection in Kahlo’s story. Kahlo created 200 paintings and is known for her self-portraits that tackled themes of identity, pain, life and death. Those relatable themes are what continue to drive people to see her artwork.

In 2017, the Dallas Museum of Art hosted a Mexican art show called, Mexico 1900-1950, and it showcased one of Kahlo’s most famous works, The Two Fridas. It was the second most-visited exhibition in the museum’s history, with thousands of people attending. This August, the museum plans to give Kahlo her own exhibition.

A crowd gathers to look at "The Two Fridas" by Frida Kahlo in the "Mexico 1900-1950: Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo, Jose Clemente Orozco, and the Avant-Garde" exhibit at the Dallas Museum of Art in Dallas on Tuesday, March 14, 2017. (Rose Baca/The Dallas Morning News)
Rose Baca
/
The Dallas Morning News
A crowd gathers to look at "The Two Fridas" by Frida Kahlo in the "Mexico 1900-1950: Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo, Jose Clemente Orozco, and the Avant-Garde" exhibit at the Dallas Museum of Art in Dallas on Tuesday, March 14, 2017. (Rose Baca/The Dallas Morning News)

“She was a trailblazer, she really transformed 20th-century society as she transformed herself,” said DMA Eugene McDermott director Agustin Arteaga, who is co-curating the upcoming Frida: Beyond the Myth exhibition. “She had this spirit of never giving up and always fighting for what is right.”

The exhibition will feature 60 works by Kahlo along with photographs of her life and other artifacts of the well-known painter.

“I found out that we had a window of time to do a larger exhibition, since Frida is always in high demand,” Arteaga said. “I realized that there is no major exhibit anywhere else. So I wanted to do a larger show that will explain more about her life.”

Arteaga said he wants the exhibition to push beyond the myths and legends that surround Kahlo and show the artist as a real person.

Dozens of Frida look-alikes stand in line during an attempt to break the Guinness World Record for the largest gathering of people dressed as Frida Kahlo in one location at the Dallas Museum of the Art in Dallas on July 6, 2017. (Tailyr Irvine/The Dallas Morning News)
Tailyr Irvine
/
The Dallas Morning News
Dozens of Frida look-alikes stand in line during an attempt to break the Guinness World Record for the largest gathering of people dressed as Frida Kahlo in one location at the Dallas Museum of the Art in Dallas on July 6, 2017. (Tailyr Irvine/The Dallas Morning News)

“Frida is by far more than that cryptic image that can be so alluring and at the same time so distant,” Arteaga said. “There’s flesh and heart and talent and suffering.”

Kahlo managed to turn that suffering into beautiful art. That’s why Arteaga said she continues to be a role model for so many.

“Her desire of being a mother and her love for motherhood and the fact that she was never able to provide that creates this sort of maternal figure that is there for us, for everyone,” Arteaga said. “She never had children, but I think that somehow it looks like she has adopted everyone that feels attracted to her.”

Frida Beyond the Myth runs from Aug. 18 through Nov. 17 at the Dallas Museum of Art.

Arts Access is an arts journalism collaboration powered by The Dallas Morning News and KERA.

This community-funded journalism initiative is funded by the Better Together Fund, Carol & Don Glendenning, City of Dallas OAC, Communities Foundation of Texas, The University of Texas at Dallas, The Dallas Foundation, Eugene McDermott Foundation, James & Gayle Halperin Foundation, Jennifer & Peter Altabef and The Meadows Foundation. The News and KERA retain full editorial control of Arts Access’ journalism.

Copyright 2024 KERA

Alyson Rodriguez