Diego and Frida – Photo Exhibition in Tbilisi: 30 October to 4 November 2018

From 30 October to 4 November 2018, the Georgian National Museum, The Embassy of the United Mexican States in Georgia, and The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Georgia, present the photography exhibition of Mexican artists Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo in Tbilisi called 'A Smile in the Middle of the Way.'

The photo exhibition features the installation "Dream in the Garden" created by Georgian artist Irma Sharikadze dedicated to Frida Kahlo. The exhibition displays about 100 photographs depicting the daily life of Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo and the two artists working in their studio.

Many people photographed their relationship, including Guillermo Kahlo, Peter Julie, Guillermo Zamora, Nicolas Murray, Edward Weston, Manuel Álvarez Bravo, and Juan Guzmán.

The relationship between Diego and Frida lasted 25 years, from their marriage (1929) to Fridas' death (1954). They repeatedly separated and reconciled. In spite of disagreements and separation, both maintained the relationship.

In the beginning, the partisan union and passion for art brought the artists together. Soon after their marriage, Diego and Frida settled in the United States. For Diego it was a chance to see the capitalist world from within. For Frida, life in America meant a consolidation of their relationship with Diego and contact with the bourgeois world. After returning to Mexico, Diego had close relationships with Trotsky and André Breton.

The exhibition depicts the key stages of the couple’s relationship, their second marriage, proximity to the art world, and the last photo of the couple before Frida's death.

"The couple is the metaphor for excellence, the meeting point of all the forces and the seed of all forms. The couple is, time reconquered, time before time" - Octavio Paz.

MARTINA NICOLLSis an international aid and development consultant, and the authorof:- Similar But Different in the Animal Kingdom(2017), The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).

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