NZ Kaminsky's Blog - Posts Tagged "art-and-psychology"
Shadow Work in Color: Frida Kahlo’s Artistic Expression of Universal Suffering Through a Jungian Lens
I just watched the film Frida, Salma Hayek’s outstanding creation, and I’m in complete awe.
I’ve been thinking about Frida Kahlo’s life and legacy, and what struck me most are her words:
“I hope the exit is joyful, and I hope never to return. I am suffering. But I want you to know I have loved life, and I want to thank you for it. Sometimes I think I am lost in a desert, but then I remember the music, the colors, the voices that fill my soul. I am broken, but still I sing. I paint my wounds so they can speak when I cannot. I want to be whole, but maybe I am meant to be a thousand pieces, scattered, torn, bleeding, and beautiful. If I leave now, it is because I have loved too much, and been hurt too much, and I am tired. But my love will stay. It will dance in the colors, the shapes, the light-forever.”
She gave her shadow color, shape, and voice, stained in dust, tears, and blood, but was she able to go beyond that and find peace before the end?
We’ll never know.
I find her art to be a transcendental tool for contemplating the shadow, a mirror in which she expressed human suffering as a universal truth, ingrained in our shared reality.
As Marie Louise von Franz once said:
“It is not enough just to know your shadow and say, ‘Yes, that’s my shadow.’ That is only the beginning. Most people stop there, but the shadow is a living part of the personality and must be lived in real life.”
Frida did not stop at naming her shadow. She lived it. And I hope some of us will follow her path, not only facing our own shadows, but going beyond that threshold, carrying her fire as a torch through the labyrinth of our own darkness, our personal underworlds.
My reflection:
Not all who suffer are geniuses.
But perhaps only tremendous suffering can ignite genius.
At least Frida had that.
How do we know when we’ve gone beyond awareness into actual transformation? What are the signs that the shadow is in the process of integration, rather than just seen?
When does self-expression become self-fixation? How can we tell the difference?
If the shadow is meant to be “lived in real life” (von Franz), how do we distinguish between cathartic art and real integration?
Given the depth of her artistic and written insights, how close do you think she came to true integration?
I’ve been thinking about Frida Kahlo’s life and legacy, and what struck me most are her words:
“I hope the exit is joyful, and I hope never to return. I am suffering. But I want you to know I have loved life, and I want to thank you for it. Sometimes I think I am lost in a desert, but then I remember the music, the colors, the voices that fill my soul. I am broken, but still I sing. I paint my wounds so they can speak when I cannot. I want to be whole, but maybe I am meant to be a thousand pieces, scattered, torn, bleeding, and beautiful. If I leave now, it is because I have loved too much, and been hurt too much, and I am tired. But my love will stay. It will dance in the colors, the shapes, the light-forever.”
She gave her shadow color, shape, and voice, stained in dust, tears, and blood, but was she able to go beyond that and find peace before the end?
We’ll never know.
I find her art to be a transcendental tool for contemplating the shadow, a mirror in which she expressed human suffering as a universal truth, ingrained in our shared reality.
As Marie Louise von Franz once said:
“It is not enough just to know your shadow and say, ‘Yes, that’s my shadow.’ That is only the beginning. Most people stop there, but the shadow is a living part of the personality and must be lived in real life.”
Frida did not stop at naming her shadow. She lived it. And I hope some of us will follow her path, not only facing our own shadows, but going beyond that threshold, carrying her fire as a torch through the labyrinth of our own darkness, our personal underworlds.
My reflection:
Not all who suffer are geniuses.
But perhaps only tremendous suffering can ignite genius.
At least Frida had that.
How do we know when we’ve gone beyond awareness into actual transformation? What are the signs that the shadow is in the process of integration, rather than just seen?
When does self-expression become self-fixation? How can we tell the difference?
If the shadow is meant to be “lived in real life” (von Franz), how do we distinguish between cathartic art and real integration?
Given the depth of her artistic and written insights, how close do you think she came to true integration?
