Laid Bare: Frida’s Inner World

Offering a different perspective to Frida’s story is Laid Bare: Frida’s Inner World – a new exhibition curated by ArtScience Museum with the support of Cristina Kahlo Alcalá, the great niece of Frida Kahlo.

It explores Frida’s life through an unconventional lens — her medical history, delving into her rarely seen archives to present an intimate portrayal of her relationship with her body, her medical ailments, and the profound impact these struggles had on her artistic work.

The exhibition includes close to 40 photographs, diary pages, contemporary artworks, and medical records. It includes exclusive interviews with Cristina Kahlo Alcalá speaking about how she acquired these medical documents from the American British Cowdry Hospital where Frida Kahlo spent long periods of time. These interviews will also reveal the person Frida was beyond the persona she became known for.

Additionally, Laid Bare features interviews with doctors and medical experts from Singapore, ranging from an orthopedic surgeon to an anesthetist and a clinical psychologist, who provide contemporary diagnoses of Frida’s medical conditions, discussing the kinds of physical and mental challenges she would have experienced. Through these interviews, as well as a carefully curated collection of archival material, records, and photographs, the exhibition offers a narrative that intertwines the fragility of the human condition with the resilience of the human spirit.
Laid Bare sparks dialogue about the intersection of health, identity, and artistic expression, showing that despite a lifelong battle with chronic pain, Frida Kahlo took great joy in life, had a daring and vivacious personality. and found her own way of overcoming life’s adversities.