Frida Kahlo comes to New Delhi's suburbs thanks to Protsahan India Foundation
24 April 2025
In India, girls who have survived violence find inspiration in the indomitable spirit of Frida Kahlo by using self-portraiture as a means of building self-confidence.
When Samita (a fictional name), a 15-year-old teenager created her first self-portrait, she realised her ability to fill the world with colour. After the workshop, she shared: "I felt that I could perceive myself as beautiful. I can become art!"With her hand on her heart, Samita is forging her resilience after growing up in a context of extreme poverty and intergenerational violence.
Samita is one of the young migrant girls aged 15-18 who participate in a series of storytelling and art workshops held within the urban slums of Delhi at one of Protsahan India Foundation's centres.
Within these spaces, Samita becomes familiar with self-expression and self-reflection to challenge the social norms that govern women's relationship with their bodies.
Recently, Frida Kahlo's innate pride in art became a powerful source of inspiration for the girls and has sparked dynamic conversations about trauma, perception of women's bodies and reclaiming creative space through questions such as ‘What memories would you like to capture in your self-portrait? What colours or expressions represent you? What makes you feel special?’.
Indian and Mexican culture converge in these little-known corners of Delhi and, through the exciting connection between Kahlo's life and that of the girls, an understanding of the universal language of art is achieved. By letting loose on the canvas, the girls focus on depicting their strength, resilience and hope.
Their self-portraits are inspired by Kahlo's magical realism and incorporate stylistic traces of Indian folk art from the Madhubani region and the kalamkari technique. It is a pleasure for the animators to watch them learn more about themselves, embrace their creative power and find new ways to continue to nurture their strength. (taken from
More info and pictures at the link below from the Stanford Social Innovation Review (SSIR)
