Frida is Strange Like Me is our new favorite web comic
Frida Kahlo was the original self-love advocate, and in this super sweet new comic, her amazing advice is matched with the story of a modern little girl with some brow insecurity. The drawings are by Gavin Aung Than, an Australian artist who posts on his blog, Zen Pencils. He loves matching inspiring quotes with sweet stories, connecting current readers with the words of our great artists and thinkers. This new addition is so sweet and inspiring!
Frida Kahlo was a Mexican visual artist active in the first half of the 20th century, famous for her emotional and passionate paintings, her sharp self-portraits, and her relationship with fellow artist Diego Rivera. She faced lots of struggles in her life — and she faced them head-on. When her leg was amputated, she wrote, “Feet, what do I need them for? If I have wings to fly.” According to first-hand reports, she was so proud of her trademark unibrow and mustache, she groomed them with a comb. We love that confidence and body positivity! Frida loved herself just as she was and because of who she was — and so should you.
Gavin says of the comic, “The main thing I wanted to capture in the comic is that feeling of seeing a piece of artwork for the first time that completely stops you in your tracks and grabs you by the soul, as if the artist is speaking directly to you from a different time and place.” You rocked it, Gavin.
The comic starts out with a little girl who is nonplussed by her unibrow.
With parts of Frida’s quotes superimposed above, we see mean girls at her school making fun of her…
And after she begs to be taken to a laser hair removal place, her mom drags her to a museum.
She grumbles and groans, until she sees one of Frida’s self-portraits…
…and she starts to gain an appreciation for her unique beauty.
Check out the full comic here, and be sure to look at some of Gavin’s other amazing work, too, like this one about Sylvia Plath and this one about Maya Angelou.
