Pictionary

Can you recognize these images?

I work at Tesoros Trading Co. on 2nd and Congress and we are very popular with tourists. It's a location near many downtown hotels and is next door to a very popular Mexican eatery. Often, customers think the first image (which of course is the revolutionary Che Guevara) is that of Cesar Chavez. Maybe the names are confusing (I don't think so) but people who come in the store sure mix the two up. The second image is the 'anima sola' which is prevalent in Catholic culture. I don't expect everyone to know what the picture represents because not everyone is Catholic, but the anima sola represents the soul in purgatory (the place where one is held before going into the hell beneath). The third, of course, is Frida Kahlo and it would blow your mind to know the amount of people who don't know who this is. Prevalent comments in the store include "Ugh, she's so ugly," "Why does she have that eyebrow?," "Who was she married to?" and, my favorite, "Why does she have so many pictures of herself?"

I'd like to focus on Frida and the fact that she represents a beautiful, creative, misunderstood soul. It seems that Americans don't understand the fact that beauty is only skin deep and sometimes your skin includes a prominent unibrow. She painted self-portraits to convey feelings that otherwise would go unnoticed. And her husband was the painter Diego Rivera, for those who didn't know.

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I'd also like to comment on Geoff's entry about Seu Jorge. Check out the Life Aquatic Studio Sessions. It's Seu Jorge playing David Bowie songs on an acoustic guitar in Portuguese. Brilliant!