“Feet, what do I need you for when I have wings to fly?”
— Фрида Кало
This quote is from Kahlo's personal diary, written after the 1953 amputation of her right leg below the knee. It reflects her lifelong refusal to be defined by physical suffering and her insistence on finding freedom in art.
I was six when polio withered my right leg. I was eighteen when a bus crash shattered my spine, my pelvis, my collarbone, and my right foot. Doctors said I would never walk again. I spent months in a full body cast, staring at the ceiling, and that is when I started painting. I painted myself because I was the subject I knew best and because I was so often alone. Pain was my companion for life. But I refused to let it be the only story. If the ground will not hold you, learn to fly.