Nadezhda Radulova Frida Kalo: Portret Radulova Frida Kahlo

Journal for Politics, Gender and Culture, Vol. III, No. 1, Summer 2004

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Identities

�Telo, ektopi~na topografija, seriska somato-grafija, lokalna geografija. Damki, nokti, veni,vlakna, istegnuvawa, obrazi, strani, koski,br~ki, brazdi, kolkovi, grla. Delovite od telotone se kombiniraat vo edna edinstvena celina,tie ne se sredstva da se postigne istata, nituse nejzini celi. Sekoj del moè odnenade` da jaobzeme celinata, da se pro{iri po nea, moè dapostane totalnost na teloto � osven priapsolutnoto odvojuvawe i razdeluvawe [partage].Ne postoi ona {to se narekuva telo. Ne postoitelo.

Namesto toa, postojat trpelivite i strasniiskaùvawa na mnogubrojni tela. Rebra, ~erepi,karlici, iritacii, {kolki, dijamanti, kapki,peni, movovi, iskopuvawa, polumese~inki nanoktite, minerali, kiselini, perja, misli,kanxi, {krilci, polen, alkohol, rezovi, blokovi,se~ewe, nabivawe, otstranuvawe, zavivawe,udirawe, riewe, rasipuvawe, natrupuvawe,lizgawe, izdi{uvawe, ostavawe, te~ewe -1

�Corpus, an ectopic topography, serial somato-graphy, local geography. Stains, nails, veins, hairs,spurts, cheeks, sides, bones, wrinkles, creases, hips,throats. The parts of the corpus do not combine into awhole, are not a means to it or an ends of it. Eachpart can suddenly take over the whole, can spreadover it, can become the totality of the body � but theabsolute separation and sharing out [partage]. Thereis no such thing as the body. There is no body.

Instead, there are patient and fervent recitations ofnumerous corpuses. Ribs, skulls, pelvises, irritations,shells, diamonds, drops, foams, mosses, excavations,fingernail moons, minerals, acids, feathers, thoughts,claws, slates, pollens, liqueurs, slits, blocks, slicing,squeezing, removing, bellowing, smashing, burrow-ing, spoiling, piling up, sliding, exhaling, leaving,flowing �1

Nade`daRadulova Frida Kalo: Portret

na edno telo

NadezhdaRadulova Frida Kahlo: A Portrait

of a Body

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Prou~uvanoto telo

Prou~uvanoto telo e mnogu moderen predmet. Toa etelo so svoja istorija, telo tretirano i discipli-nirano vo soglasnost so pravilata na Klinikata, sorazli~ni tehniki na deskripcija, klasifikacija,distribucija i ekspozicija. Ova telo sekoga{ e to~nolocirano i izmereno, nikoga{ ne e prekumerno isekoga{ e funkcionalno. Bidej}i toa e sekoga{konkretno poradi svojata unikatna istorija, toa eistovremeno i pokorno, primenlivo i pot~ineto naop{tite pravila na naukata ili kontrolniotdiskurs.

Prou~uvanoto telo e edno krajno metafori~no telo,vo koe sekoj organ ima uloga na sinegdoha koja gopretstavuva celoto i koja na ovoj na~in se buntuvaprotiv organizmot. Ottuka, narativot na prou~uva-noto telo ne e odreden od strana na organizmot kakosistem, tuku od mnogu razli~ni odrednici, odpobunetite hipertrofi~ni organi. Narativot naprou~uvanoto telo e naru{en i dominiran odfigurativnoto {to sekoj poedine~en organ gosozdava.

To~no tuka bi moèl da zapo~ne ovoj tekst, i bidej}itoa }e bide tekst za Frida Kalo i nejzinite sliki,toj ne moè da ja izbegne pred-istorijata na nejzinitevizuelni tekstovi, registrirawata i raskaùvawatana nejzinoto telo, samoto nejzino telo vo kontekstotna Klinikata.

Prikaznata na teloto za koe zboruvame zapo~nuva vo1925 godina, koga osumnaesetgodi{nata studentka namedicina, Frida Kalo, se zdobila so uàsni povredivo avtobuska nesre}a. Opisot na eden svedok nanesre}ata ja locira Frida na ulicata so skr{en ’rbet

The Body Expertized

The body expertized is a very modern object. It is a bodywith a history, a body managed and disciplined by therules of the Clinique, by different techniques of descrip-tion, classification, distribution and exposition. It is a bodyalways located and measured, never excessive, everfunctionalized. Being always concrete because of itsunique history, at the same time it is docile, applicable,submissive to the general rules of the science or the con-trolling discourse.

The body expertized is an ultimately metaphoric bodywhere each organ plays the role of a synecdoche repre-senting the whole and in this way revolting against theorganism. Hence, the narrative of the body expertized isnot focalized by the expert system of the organism; ratherit is narrated by many different focalizers, by revoltinghypertrophied organs. The narrative of the body expert-ized is breached and prevailed by the figurative that eachseparate organ creates.

This is the very point where this text could possibly startbecause, inasmuch as it would be a text about Frida Kahloand her paintings, it cannot avoid the pre-history of hervisual texts, the records and accounts of her body, her bodyitself in the context of the Clinique.

The narrative of the body we are speaking about becomespossible in 1925 when the eighteen year-old medical stu-dent Frida Kahlo suffered terrible injuries as a result of abus accident. An eye-witness account locates Frida on theroad with her spine fractured, her pelvis crushed, pierced

Nadezhda Radulova Frida Kahlo: A Portrait of a Body


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Identities

i sma~kana karlica, so probodeni matka i vagina sometalna {ipka, so raskinata obleka i so golo teloisprskano so zlaten prav {to go nosel nekoj odpatnicite vo avtobusot. Po nesre}ata Frida bilapodloèna na triesetina operacii; bila vrzana zakrevet podolgo vreme; imala pove}e pometnuvawa imedicinski indicirani abortusi; nakratko, taabila zarobena od diskursot na sopstvenoto telo, bezogled na toa dali se obiduvala da ja izbegne bolkata,ili da ja oboùva kako da e umetni~ki predmet.

U{te pova`na vo ovoj ~isto klini~ki slu~aj, ezastra{uva~kata slika na Fridinoto �nemo}no� teloza~uvana vo opisot na svedokot. Bedno i opredmeteno,ova uni{teno telo gledano od distanca li~elo nabizaren umetni~ki objekt, na re~isi neorganskamaterija, kade {to telesnite te~nosti se me{ale sove{ta~kiot zlaten prav, a celata {teta bila organi-zirana okolu metalnata {ipka, koja odedna{ stanalacentar na edno de-centri~no, ili eks-centri~notelo. Vo taa smisla, ovoj opis sozdava slika na teloso nejasni granici koi go eliminiraat kontrastotvnatre{nost-nadvore{nost, ili barem go pravatnevaèn. To~no poradi toa {to ova pretstavuvapovtorno otkrivawe na telo bez granici, koe �te~e�i se sleva so svojata okolina, toa ne moè da bide samotelo- `rtva. U{te pove}e, poradi pogore nabroenitekarakteristiki, iskazot na svedokot za Fridinototelo voop{to ne pretstavuva opis na telo. Verojatno,ova be{e osnovniot predizvik so koj Frida sesoo~uva{e siot svoj ìvot po nesre}ata � kako da goispravi i promeni toj prikaz, kako da go presozdadenejzinoto ne-telo vo ne{to reprezentativno, kako dase bori protiv narativnite mehanizmi koi para-doksalno go pretstavuvaa nejzinoto telo kako ne{toneiska`livo, nevozmo`no da se opi{e so zborovi�

�I taa po~na da slika.

through the womb and vagina by a metal rod, with herclothes torn off and her naked body showered with goldpigment which a passenger on the bus had been carrying.After this accident Frida passed through about thirty op-erations; she was confined to bed for a long time; she suf-fered a lot of miscarriages and medical abortions. In short,she was in many different ways arrested by her own bodydiscourse, no matter if she was trying to escape the painor to become infatuated with it as an art object.

What is more important in this pure clinical case is thepetrified image of Frida�s �failed� body that is preservedin the eyewitness account. Both abject and objectified, thisdestroyed body was seen from a distance as a bizarre artitem, as an almost non-organic matter where the bodilyfluids were fused with the artificial gold pigment and allthe damage was organized around the metal rod, whichsuddenly became the centre of a de-centric, why not ex-centric body. In this sense, this account creates an imageof a body with blurred boundaries that eliminate the op-position interior-exterior or, at least, make it insignifi-cant. Precisely because this is a re-invention of a bodywithout limits, which �lasts� and fuses into its environ-ment, it cannot be just a body victimized. Furthermore,because of all characteristics enumerated above, the eye-witness account of Frida�s body is not a representation ofa body at all. Probably, this was the basic task that Fridawas facing all her life after the accident � how to correctand change the account, how to re-invent her non-bodyas something representable, how to struggle against themechanisms of narration that were paradoxically speak-ing her body out as ineffable, as not portrayable in words�

�And she started painting.

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Portretiranoto telo

Strukturata na avtoportretite na Frida Kalo epremnogu bogata i gusta za da moè da se smesti vocvrstata ramka na koj bilo umetni~ki period. Kogabi se napravil obid za nejzin presek, bi se otkrilerazli~ni sloevi za interpretacija: meksikanskatanarodna umetnost i naivnoto slikarstvo, katoli~-kata tradicija, osobeno ikonografskite opisi nama~eni{tvoto i Hristovoto stradanie, elementi odpopularniot barok, detalnite prikazi od u~ebnicitepo anatomija, dekorativisti~kite i nadrealisti~kiodliki vpi{ani vo diskursot na grotesknoto ikarnevalskoto. No, mo`noto istraùvawe na ovietendencii bi se svelo na bezìvotna i sterilnainterpretacija, dokolku tie se nametnat kakointernalizirani fragmenti, iskoristeni kakofunkcii na teloto, �prvobitno� skr{eno i invali-dizirano. Specifikata na ovie portreti e toa {tonajdlabokiot sloj od nivnata palimpsestna strukturane e arhetipot na zdravo i harmoni~no telo, tukucelosna distorzija i nesposobnost. Koga bi sesogolile povr{inskite sloevi od obleki i cvetovi,od bujni tela i leleavi draperii, bi se soo~ile so�pustelija� od fosili i ruini, od rani i rascepi, odizma~eni nabieni mesa� Spored Kejt êdzoj (KateChedgzoy), avtoportretite na Kalo �povtorno goispi{uvaat grotesknoto, so cel taa da go svrtivnimanieto kon sebesi, na na~in koj vsu{nost jazgolemil nejzinata kontrola vrz sopstveniot ìvoti umetnost.�2 Jas pak, bi rekla deka strategiite natravestija i izloùvawe se preklopuvaat vo eden netolku politi~ki ekspliciten gest, pri {to celta nee kontrola nad pretstavata, tuku optimizirawe nateloto, t.e izmisluvawe na utopisko telo bez po~etoki bez kraj, nekade pome|u ìvotot i smrtta; telo

The Body Portrayed

The texture of Frida Kahlo�s self-portraits is too rich anddense to be put in the rigid framework of any artistic pe-riod. If one could find any sense in its dissection, manyvarious layers might be revealed and exposed to inter-pretations: the Mexican folk art and naïve painting, theCatholic tradition, especially iconographic depictions ofmartyrdom and the Passion, the elements of the popularBaroque, the detailed imagery from anatomical textbooks,the decorativist and surrealist features inscribed in thediscourse of the grotesque and the carnival. But the pos-sible exploration of all these trends stays an arid and sterileinterpretation if one could impose them as internalizedfragments, utilized as functions of a body, �primordially�broken and disabled. The specificity of these portraits isthat the lowest layer of their palimpsest structure is notthe archetype of the healthy and harmonious body butthe total distortion and failure. If one denudes the upperlayers of dresses and flowers, of blossoming flesh andswaying draperies, one could face a �wasteland� of fossilsand ruins, of wounds and chasms, of tortured squeezedflesh� According to Kate Chedgzoy, Kahlo�s self-portraits�re-inscribe the grotesque in order to make a spectacle ofherself in ways which actually enhanced her control overher art and life.�2 I would argue that the travestying andthe exhibiting strategies overlap in a less politically ex-plicit gesture where the goal is not the control over therepresentation, but the optimization of the body, i.e. theinvention of a utopian body without a beginning and with-out an end, in-between life and death, transitional, medi-ating, demoniac and in this sense � excessively erotic.



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preodno, posredno, demonsko, i vo taa smisla,zna~itelno erotsko.

Poradi toa, bi se sloìla so Lora Malvi (LauraMulvey) koja zboruva za tri glavni na~ini naavtoportretirawe vo slikite na Frida Kalo: o{te-teno telo, maskirano i ornamentirano telo i teloisprepleteno i zapletkano so rastenija.3

Koga zboruvame za prviot na~in na pretstavuvawe nao{tetenoto telo, gi imame predvid slikite �Bolni-cata Henri Ford� od 1932 godina i �Skr{eniot stolb�od 1944 godina. �Bolnicata Henri Ford� operira soprikazi od u~ebnicite po anatomija. Prikaùvagolo, hospitalizirano ènsko telo, ~ii{to bolniorgani i fetus se izloèni nadvor od nego kakosimboli. Malvi gledana ovoj �ikonski voka-bular�4 i kako na izrazi kako na maska narealnosta na teloto.U{te pove}e, taa gopovrzuva ovoj tip nasliki so ikonografi-jata {to go prikaùvaraspnatiot Hristosopkruèn so simbolnipredmeti vo ednaalegorija na spaseni-eto.5 Kako takvo, o{te-tenoto telo e telo bezorganizam, pri {topoedine~nite organi,izrazito metafori~noja dekonstruiraat sekojasostojba na zapla{eni-ot i idiosinkreti~en

I would thus agree with Laura Mulvey who discusses threemain modes of self-portraiture in Frida Kahlo�s paintings:the body damaged, the body masked and ornamented, andthe body twined and enmeshed with plants.3

When commenting the first mode of representing the bodydamaged, we could take into account the paintings �HenryFord Hospital�, 1932 and �The Broken Column�, 1944.�Henry Ford Hospital� plays with the images from theanatomy textbooks. A naked, hospitalized female bodywhich sick organs and foetus extrude from it as emblems.Mulvey sees this �iconic vocabulary�4 as both expressing

and masking the reality ofthe body. Furthermore,she refers this kind ofpainting to the iconogra-phy presenting the cruci-fied Christ, surroundedby emblematic objects inan allegory of redemp-tion.5 As such, the bodydamaged is a body with-out an organism wherethe separate organs, setthrough big metaphoricleaps, deconstruct anycondition of an intimi-dated and idiosyncraticnarrative of the body. Inthis sense, �The BrokenColumn� is a less morbidand more ambiguouswork. An ostensibly beau-

Frida Kahlo, Henry Ford Hospital, 1932, Oil on metal, 90 x 70 cm, CollectionDolores Olmedo Foundation, Mexico City

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narativ na teloto. Vo ovaasmisla �Skr{eniot stolb�e pomalku morbidno ipodvosmisleno delo.Navidum prekrasna ènaima skr{en anti~ki stolbnamesto ’ rbet. Ovie dvapalimpsestni sloja sepovrzani eden so drug sopomo{ na gipsen korset.No, izleguva deka korsetote samo bukvalna �vrska�pome|u dvata strukturnielementi na metaforata.Istovremeno, mnogubrojniklinci go proboduvaatceloto telo na ènata,pricvrstuvaj}i go naskr{eniot stolb. Ili, sodrugi zborovi, slikataprikaùva scena na ras-petie, kade elementot nakompletna destrukcija(skr{eniot stolb) e to~no toa {to go potpiraportretiranoto telo. Zatoa, o{tetenoto telo sepreklopuva so teloto so najgolema simbolika, Teloto-kako-crkva... Bi moèlo da se kaè deka na~inot nakoj e prikaàno o{tetenoto telo nao|a izlez voinkapsuliraweto vo znaci i simboli. Modifikacijana ovoj slu~aj moè da se vidi vo vtoriot na~in naportretirawe na teloto kako maskirano i orna-mentirano telo. I �Avtoportret so |erdan od trwe ikolibri� od 1940 godina i �Ranetiot elen� od 1946godina bi moèle da bidat de{ifrirani kako verziina �Skr{eniot stolb�. �Avtoportret so... � go istak-nuva simbolot na `rtvuvaweto, |erdanot od trwe, kojne e samo dekorativen element, tuku i ukaùva na

tiful woman has a broken an-cient column in the place ofher spine. These two palimp-sest layers are attached toeach other with the help of aplaster corset. But the corsetturns out to be only the lit-eral �copula� between the twostructural elements of themetaphor. At the same timenumerous nails pierce thewhole woman�s body, pin-ning it down to the brokencolumn. Or to put it in otherwords, the painting presentsa crucifixion scene where theelement of the complete de-struction (the broken col-umn) happens to be the verycondition that supports thebody depicted. Therefore, thedamaged body of ruins over-laps with the body of the

highest symbolizations, the Body-as-Church�. It couldbe said that the mode of presenting this damaged bodyfinds an exit by being encapsulated in emblems and sym-bols. A modification of this case can be observed in thesecond way of depicting the body as masked and orna-mented. Both �Self Portrait With Thorn Necklace andHumming Bird�, 1940 and �The Wounded Deer�, 1946could be decoded as versions of �The Broken Column�.The �Self Portrait with�� emphasizes the symbol of thesacrifice, the thorn necklace, which not only serves as adecorative element, but implies the transparency of themask where the thorns resemble veins and arteries. �TheWounded Deer� replaces the nails from �the Broken Col-umn� with arrows piercing the deer�s body, crowned with


Frida Kahlo, Two Fridas, 1939, Oil on canvas, 173 x 173cm, Museo de Arto Moderno, Mexico City


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transparentnosta na maskata, pri {to trwetonalikuvaat na veni i arterii. Vo �Ranetiot elen�,klincite od �Skr{eniot stolb� se zameneti so strelikoi go proboduvaat teloto na elenot, koj ima glava naèna. Vsu{nost, metaforata za ranetiot elen epozajmena od Meksikanskata poezija:

Ako vidi{ ranet elenPo padina udolu da brzaPogoden, da bara v kladenec studenZa bolkata svoja mir,I èden da se nurne v bistri vodi,Ne vo svojot mir, tuku vo bolkata toj na mene li~i.6

Preku vakvata animalisti~ka travestija telotostanuva sodràtel na znaci i maskiraweto e sfatenokako eden vid zapis, vo koj efektite od povredata istradaweto se iskaàni negativno vo oblik nametafora. Na ovoj na~in, teloto se premestuva vopiktografskiot register. Takvi piktografskiefekti se vidlivi, isto taka, vo tretiot na~in napretstavuvawe � teloisprepleteno i zaplet-kano so rastenija. �Mo-jata medicinsaka ses-tra i jas� od 1937 godi-na, �Dvete Fridi� od1939 godina, �Korewa�od 1943 godina i �Beznade`� od 1954 godi-na... Dvojstvoto vo avto-portretite na Frida gootkriva teloto i kakozatvoreno, t.e. samodo-volno, i kako izmes-teno. Bez ogled dalidvojnikot go igra

a woman�s head. In fact, the metaphor of the woundeddeer is borrowed from the Mexican poetry:

If thou seest the wounded stagThat hastens down the mountain-sideSeeking, stricken, in icy streamEase for its hurt,And thirsting plunges in the crystal waters,Not in ease, in pain it mirrors me.6

Through this animalistic travesty the body becomes a con-tainer of signs and the masquerade is read as a kind ofinscription, where the effects of the injury and sufferingare written negatively as a metaphor. In this way, body istransferred from the register of imagery to that of pictog-raphy. Such pictographic effects are also visible in the thirdmode of representation � the body twined and enmeshed

with plants. �My Nurseand I�, 1937, �The TwoFridas�, 1939, �Roots�,1943 and �WithoutHope�, 1954�. The dou-bled self-portraits ofFrida reveal the body asboth closed, i.e. self-suf-ficient, and displaced. Nomatter if the Double isplayed by the Nurse, theOther Frida or the deadFrida � it always depictsthe body as born from it-self, as its own source ofexistence. The same ideaFrida Kahlo, Roots (Raices), 1943, Oil on sheet metal, 30 x 50 cm,

Collection of Marilyn O. Lubetkin

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medicinskata sestra, Drugata Frida ili mrtvataFrida � sekoga{ se portretira teloto kako rodenosamoto od sebe si, kako sopstven izvor naegzistencija. Istata ideja e primeneta i vo �Korewa�kade {to se zabeleùva sovr{eno telo-rizom: odraskrvavenoto srce na katoli~kata tradicijaizleguvaat mnogubrojni tenki fidanki i granki i serazlistuvaat. Povrzani edno so drugo preku rastenija,mleko ili krv, telata vo portretite na Fridaizrazuvaat obilna, groteskna plodnost kade ra|awetoi smrtta, za~nuvaweto, bremenite i rodilni tela sesretnuvaat vo beskraen proces na reciklirawe.

Obilno koristej}i go ikonskiot vokabular, nagla-suvaj}i ja figurativnata struktura na svoite sliki,Frida Kalo go zgolemuva kapacitetot na teloto, voizve{taite prvenstveno pretstaveno kako izma~enoi raspar~eno. U{te pove}e, taa go portretira toa telone kako kontrolirano od totalnosta na organizmot,tuku kako sozdavano od vnatre{ni sili, od pove}e-kratni polifoni~ni �sredbi� na pove}e vnatre{nitela.

Teloto bez organi

Vo svoite posledni godini, po mnogubrojni operaciii telesni stradawa, Frida Kalo zapo~na da gi slikasopstvenite gipseni korseti koi bea potpora nanejziniot o{teten �rbet celiot ̀ ivot. Srcevinata navakvata praktika e vo korsetot, na koj{to moè da sevidat vkrsteni srp i ~ekan paralelno so slika naneroden fetus. Fotografijata na koja Frida go nosikorsetot isklu~itelno nalikuva na prikazot odtragi~nata nesre}a koja & se slu~ila vo mladosta.Sopstvenata idiosinkreti~na vizija, �platonskototelo�, rodeno vo pe{tera, sekoga{ gledano odvnatrei vo temnica, zatvor i grob na du{ata, ovde e mo{ne

is implied in �Roots� where one could face the perfectrhizomatic body: from the bleeding heart of the Catholictradition a lot of slender tendrils and branches go out andblossom into leaves. Attached to each other by plants, milkor blood, the bodies in Frida�s portraits turn out to be aplace of excessive, grotesque fertility where birth anddeath, conceiving, pregnant and begetting bodies meet inan endless process of recycling.

Operating on a large scale with the iconic vocabulary, pre-emphasizing the figurative structure of her paintings,Frida Kahlo enhances the capacity of a body, primarilyrepresented in the accounts as ravished and disseminated.Moreover, she depicts this body not controlled by a total-izing organism, but as created by internal intensities, bymultiple polyphonic �encounters� of many internal bod-ies.

The Body without Organs

In her last years, after numerous medical operations andbodily sufferings, Frida Kahlo started painting her ownplaster corsets which had been supporting her disinte-grated spine all her life. The crux of this practice turnsout to be a corset, on which one could see crossed ham-mer and sickle juxtaposed with an image of an unbornfoetus. The photo of Frida herself wearing this corset dras-tically refers to the account of the tragic accident in herearly years. The private idiosyncratic vision, the �platonicbody�, born in a cave, seen always from inside and in dark-ness, prison and tomb of the soul, here is excessively ex-ternalized, exposed not only to the instance of the gaze,



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eksternalizirano, izloèno ne samo na pogledi, tukui na pretopuvawe so okolinata. Vnatre{niot inten-zitet na bolkata e pretstaven na povr{inata. Sepak,povr{inata, t.e. koàta ne e prirodna granica nateloto, tuku ve{ta~ki sozdadena granica. Voop{to,naslikanoto telo si igra so povr{inite, no to~noporadi toa {to si igra so niv, toa ja eliminirafunkcijata na koja bilo povr{ina, �...vnatre{nostasamata sebesi si prilega na tu|o telo, na predmet {totreba da se istraùva odnadvor, kako secirano oko,ili kako haluciniranoto telo na epifizata.�7 Ili,poinaku kaàno, kontrastot vnatre{nost-nadvore{-nost ne e pove}e operativna distanca koja funkcio-nira niz odvojuvawe, tuku sostojba na zamenuvawe iizmestuvawe, mo`nost za doìvuvawe na prenosot, nametaforata.

�Znak za samiot sebe i samobitnost na znakot: takva edvojnata formula na teloto vo site svoi sostojbi, vosite svoi mo`nosti.�8 Vo taa smisla, duri i ranite,luznite, raskinuvawata na teloto se pove}e zatvorawaotkolku otvori i vlezovi. Iako navidum nadvore{na,ranata pretstavuva znak koj se apsorbira samiotsebesi; taa go ozna~uva teloto, paradoksalno pridone-suvaj}i toa da se multiplicira i is~eznuva. Ranitekako znaci ja potvrduvaat ezoteri~nata neproyirnostna teloto, koe{to {tom se ras~lenuva, prestanuva dapostoi. Vo ovoj kompliciran proces moè da sezabeleì dvojnoto dvièwe na sublimacija i desub-limacija, pri {to intenzitetot na is~eznuvaweto isoedinuvaweto go reerotizira erozivniot diskurs nabolkata. Za vreme na ova dvojno dvièwe, organizmotkako pove}ekratna struktura od organi ne funkcio-nira, i organot � �znak za samiot sebe i samobitnostna znakot� � izloèn kako simbol, prezentiran kakokrajno sposoben ili povrzan so nekoj izvor, navleguvavo sostojba na ve}e slu~eno {to sekoga{ prodolùva.

but also to a fusion with the environment. The internalintensity of the pain is depicted on the surface. This sur-face however, is not the natural bodily border, i.e. the skin,but a fabricated border, artificiality. In general, the bodypainted plays with the surfaces, but precisely because ofthis playing, it eliminates the function of any surface. ��[T]he inside appears to itself as a foreign body, as an ob-ject to be examined from the outside, as a dissected eye,or as the hallucinated body of the pineal gland.�7 Or inother words, the opposition inside-outside is no longeran operative distance which functions through separation,but the very condition of replacement and displacement,the very possibility of living out the transference, the meta-phor.

�Sign of itself and being-itself of the sign: such is thedouble formula of the body in all its states, in all its possi-bilities.�8 In this sense, even the wounds, the scars, thechasms of the body serve more as enclosures, rather thanopenings and entries. Although seemingly an external-ized pain, the wound is a sign reabsorbed into itself; itsignifies the body while paradoxically making it multiplyand disappear. The wounds as signs reconfirm the eso-teric opacity of a body, which meanwhile disseminates,no longer exists. In this complicated process one couldwitness a double movement of sublimation and de-subli-mation where the intensity of the disappearance into fu-sion re-eroticizes the eroding discourse of the pain. Dur-ing this double movement the organism as a multiple or-ganization of organs fails, and the organ � �sign of itselfand being-itself of the sign� � exposed as an emblem, pre-sented as extremely resourceful or connected to a source,enters into a state of already-always to be continued�.�The organ changes when it crosses a threshold, when itchanges gradient.�9 Deleuze and Guattari describe such

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�Organot se menuva koga go pre~ekoruva pragot, kogaja menuva pozicijata.�9 Delez (Deleuze) i Gatari(Guattari) gi opi{uvaat vakvite organski eksperi-menti kako �telo na interni nomadi� i �telo bezorgani�. Ova e sostojba na kontinuiran protest nateloto protiv organite, na teloto protiv organizmoti na organite protiv organizmot. No ova ne ehaoti~noto Braunovo dvièwe vo vnatre{nosta nateloto. Naprotiv, ova e niza na postapki ~ija cel epostignuvawe na zadovolstvo � �edinstveniot na~inlu|eto ’da se pronajdat sebesi‘ vo procesot na ̀ elbata{to gi obzema; zadovolstvata, duri i najve{ta~kite,se reteritorijalizacii.�10

Vsu{nost, tolkuvaj}i gi portretite na teloto naFrida Kalo, ova e meta-narativot {to moè da sesozdade. @elbata {to ja be{e obzela be{e eden porivza soedinuvawe na ìvotot i smrtta, pri {tonejzinoto prou~uvano telo ne be{e pove}e komer-cijalen umetni~ki predmet, sma~kan na patot iisprskan so zlaten prav. Niz svoite sliki taa dopredo re-teritorijaliziranoto telo, koe{to ne be{efragmentirano i parcijalno, i so samoto toanemo}no, tuku edno mnoèstvo od oslobodeni iintenzivirani organi, koi{to na neobi~en na~inprerasnaa vo rastenija, ìvotni, ve{ta~ki te~nostii predmeti. �Prikaznata� na sekoj organ be{evizuelizirana i sodràna vo amblem, simbol, znak,piktogram. Kako rezultat na toa, se soo~uvame soportret na telo {to go so~inuvaat redica tekovnimali �prikazni�.

�Organite se raspredeluvaat na �Teloto bez organi�,no tie se raspredeluvaat nezavisno od formata naorganizmot; formite stanuvaat zavisni, a organitepove}e ne se ni{to drugo osven intenziteti koi sesozdavaat, tekovi, pragovi i pozicii.�11 Nadvor od

organic experimentations as �a body of internal nomadies�or �a body without organs�. This is a state of a permanentrebellion of the body against the organs, the body againstthe organism and the organs against the organism. Butthis is not the chaotic Brownian motion inside the recep-tacle of the body. On the contrary, this is a set of practiceswhose goal is a production of a pleasure � �the only wayfor persons �to find themselves� in the process of desirethat exceeds them; pleasures, even the most artificial, arereterritorializations.�10

In fact, this is the meta-narrative which one could con-struct while reading Frida Kahlo�s portraits of her body.The desire that exceeded her was a drive towards a fusionof life and death where her body expertized was no longera commoditized art object, smashed on the road and splat-tered with a golden pigment. Through her paintings shefound an approach to a re-territorialized body, which wasnot fragmented and partial, thus powerless, but a multi-plicity of liberated intensified organs, which strangelydeveloped themselves into plants, animals, artificial liq-uids and objects. The �story� of each organ was visualizedand encapsulated in an emblem, in a symbol, in a sign, ina pictogram. As a result, one could face a portrait of abody, comprising a bunch of small �stories� in process.

�The organs distribute themselves on the �Body WithoutOrgans�, but they distribute themselves independently ofthe form of the organism; forms become contingent, or-gans are no longer anything more than intensities thatare produced, flows, thresholds and gradients.�11 Beyond



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Identities

granicite na prou~uvanoto telo i portretiranototelo, teloto bez organi prilega na struktura {tomoè da go prelaè i podrie sekoj vizuelen tekst.Taka, se pokaà deka portretot na teloto bez organi estruktura {to go inficira pogledot, okupiraj}i goso svoite metastazi~ni konci. Vo slu~ajot naavtoportretite na Frida Kalo, inficiraweto napogledot izgleda deka e voved kon ovaa razli~nastruktura na subjektivnosta. Navleguvaj}i vo nea,iskazite na svedokot se ~ini deka se totalno nerele-vantni. Vrameno vo slikite na Frida, ona {to leìna ulicata moè da iscica ne~ija krv i da se vpletkame|u ne~ii korewa. Ova e krajot na konceptualnataumetnost i po~etok na rizomatskite nomadski sredbi.Bidej}i, koga teloto bez organi ne propa|a, toa nu`nostanuva isklu~itelno uspe{no.

Prevod od angliski jazik: Nata{a Stojanovska

Bele{ki

1 Jean-Luc Nancy, �Corpus� in The Birth To Presence (StanfordUniversity Press, Stanford, California, 1993), p.207.

2 Kate Chedgzoy, �Frida Kahlo�s Grotesque Bodies� in Femi-nisms, ed. by Sandra Kemp & Judith Squires (Oxford Univer-sity Press, Oxford-NewYork, 1997), p.465.

3 Laura Mulvey and Peter Wollen, �Frida Kahlo and TinaModotti� in Art in Modern Culture. An Anthology of CriticalTexts, ed. by Francis Frascina and Jonathan Harris (PhaidonPress Ltd., London, 1992), pp.157-158.

4 Ibid., p.155.

5 Ibid., p.156.

6 Sor Juana Inez de la Cruz, �Verses Expressing the Feelings ofa Lover�, trans. by Samuel Beckett in Octavio Paz (ed.) in An-thology of Mexican Poetry (London, 1959).

the body expertized and the body portrayed, the bodywithout organs seems to be a structure that deceives andsubverts any visual text. Thus, the portrait of the bodywithout organs turns out to be a structure that infects thegaze, occupying it with its metastatic threads. In the caseof Frida Kahlo�s self-portraits the infection of the gazeseems to be a prelude to this different structure of subjec-tivity. Entering it, one could see the eyewitness accountsas totally irrelevant. Framed by Frida�s painting, what lieson the road could suck one�s blood and entangle one�sroots. This is the end of conceptual art and the beginningof the rhizomatic nomadic encounters. For when the bodywithout organs does not fail, it necessarily becomes ex-tremely successful.

Notes1 Jean-Luc Nancy, �Corpus� in The Birth To Presence (StanfordUniversity Press, Stanford, California, 1993), p.207.

2 Kate Chedgzoy, �Frida Kahlo�s Grotesque Bodies� inFeminisms, ed. By Sandra Kemp & Judith Squires (OxfordUniversity Press, Oxford-NewYork, 1997), p.465.

3 Laura Mulvey and Peter Wollen, �Frida Kahlo and TinaModotti� in Art in Modern Culture. An Anthology of CriticalTexts, ed. by Francis Frascina and Jonathan Harris (PhaidonPress Ltd., London, 1992), pp.157-158.

4 Ibid., p.155.

5 Ibid., p.156.

6 Sor Juana Inez de la Cruz, �Verses Expressing the Feelings ofa Lover�, trans. by Samuel Beckett in Octavio Paz (ed.) in An-thology of Mexican Poetry (London, 1959).

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7 Ibid., p.192.

8 Ibid., p.194.

9 Gill Deleuze and Felix Guattari, �How Do You Make Yourselfa Body without Organs?� in A Thousand Plateaus. Capitalismand Schizophrenia (The Athlone Press, London, 1992), p.153.

10 Ibid., p.156.

11 Ibid., p.165.

7 Ibid., p.192.

8 Ibid., p.194.

9 Gill Deleuze and Felix Guattari, �How Do You Make Yourselfa Body without Organs?� in A Thousand Plateaus. Capitalismand Schizophrenia (The Athlone Press, London, 1992), p.153.

10 Ibid., p.156.

11 Ibid., p.165.


Documents

Nadezhda Radulova Frida Kalo: Portret Radulova Frida Kahlo