Kahlodoscope Love

KAHLODOSCOPE LOVE
Heroines series
Acrylic on canvas
40H x 30cm
March 2020

Kahlodoscope Love presents the dichotomy of Frida Kahlo's world as a kaleidoscope, after her self-portrait 'The Two Fridas'.

Diagnosed with polio as a child, one leg was thinner than the other and Frida suffered from spina bifida which she disguised with long skirts.

When a trolley accident changed her life forever, the medical student turned away from medicine and towards art. The accident broke her spinal column, collarbone, pelvis, ribs and fractured eleven places in her leg, crushed her foot and dislocated her shoulder. Her uterus was pierced by an iron handrail and was later removed. Her recovery was spent in a full body cast where she began to paint on an easel over her bed.

"I paint myself because I am often alone and I am the subject I know best." Frida painted more than 55 self-portraits where she painted her pain. She suffered from PTSD, bipolar disorder, marital rifts, miscarriages, alcoholism and depression and she attempted suicide several times. Her right leg was amputated at the knee due to gangrene.

Paradoxically, Frida filled her world with vibrant Mexican colour and pattern and she loved to drink, party hard and tell jokes. She was strong, courageous and vulnerable. When she died, cause of death unknown, her husband, Diego Rivera, wrote that it was the most tragic day of his life as he realised far too late how much he loved her.

Exhibitions:

Frida, MREAM Studios and Gallery, Maidstone, 14 March - 5 April 2020

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Pascale is a figurative artist, paintress and storyteller. She creates from her home studio, The Garudio, in the leafy suburb of Eltham, Victoria, a place known for its artistic community and Montsalvat Arts Centre, a European-inspired artists’ colony, where she also worked for five years.

She loves to draw and paint people, telling their stories through the use of colour, imagery and human emotion including love, loss and humour. Pascale likes to look to the past and is drawn to themes exploring inheritance, nostalgia, foreign language, travel, nature, music and time.

Originally from Kent in England, Pascale graduated with a BA Combined Hons in French and Fine Art from the University of Exeter and was an art student at the Ecole Européenne Supérieure d'art de Bretagne, Rennes, France, on an integral foreign placement in the third year of her four-year degree.

She is a passionate Francophile, speaks fluent French and has spent many months in France though family holidays, education and employment with the Eurostar Group. Her maternal family is from south-west France and this part of the world holds a special place in her heart.

Pascale completed a BTEC in Design for Interiors in London and then worked in the interior design industry in Kent, London and Melbourne for fifteen years. She is influenced by maximalist, Mediterranean, Moorish, Bohemian and vintage interiors and loves bold, pattern, bright colours and lush nature.

Since immigrating to Melbourne twenty years ago, Pascale has loved living in Australia and travels regularly to keep exploring the country. In lockdown she began to research her family history and has been particularly drawn to the immigration story of her paternal Scottish ancestry, tracing branches to Australia, Canda and the U.S.A.. She plans to add family trees to her portfolio in the near future.

As a women’s health advocate in the breast cancer community and co-founder of Flat Life Australia, she also uses her lived personal experience and her mother's early death from inherited breast cancer to shape her art, calling for improved visibility and greater awareness in this space. Her fascination with 'mermaids' emerged from her health crisis and this has provided many opportunities for sanctuary, escapism and charitable work.