MoMA.org: "Frida and I" by the award-winning Portuguese illustrator Fatinha Ramos
30 October 2025
Ramos revisits Frida Kahlo's Fulang-Chang and I in the October issue of Drawn to MoMA, utilizing the mirror element as a window into the world of Frida.
She considers how decades of comparison have cast her in the shadow of Frida: “People have compared me to Frida Kahlo before I even knew who she was,” Portuguese illustrator Fatinha Ramos says. Ramos spent his early years in and out of hospitals.“I spent long stretches in bed, recovering from fractures, and drawing became my escape.” What started out as a casual remark made by the mother of another child quickly turned into an identity that followed Ramos. “I was called ‘the Portuguese Frida Kahlo.’ I always received Frida books, socks, and postcards.” As she grew older, more similarities became apparent: her grandfather and Frida's father were both portrait photographers; Ramos and Kahlo both had spinal surgeries in the same city; and both wore medical devices to protect their bones. “But I learned not to live in her shadow,” Ramos says. “I didn’t want to be a version of someone else. I wanted to be fully myself.”
Click the link below to access MoMA website and see Ramos illustrations dedicated to the "Frida and I" theme.
