Homage to Frida Kahlo
- Artist: Rita Keegan
- Date: 1987
- Medium: Oil paint on canvas
- Dimensions: support: 661 × 664 mm
- Museum: Tate Britain
- Collection record: Tate Britain website
Listen to the free audio guide
About this artwork
This is the “Homage to Frida Kahlo” by Rita Keegan.
Right up front you’ll notice Keegan’s steady stare – a direct, unblinking gaze that immediately recalls the self‑portraits of Frida Kahlo. The artist has painted cracks that ripple across her face, neck, and chest, a visual echo of Kahlo’s own “Broken Column” where fissures and nails pierce the skin.
The composition balances that intense portrait with a bold backdrop of black, white, and a green‑streaked orchid motif. The orange‑pink blooms and the vertical stripes feel almost like a conversation between memory and identity.
Keegan has long turned to self‑portraiture as a way to revisit family photographs, many of which date back to the 1880s. Her archive documents a Black middle‑class Canadian family spanning more than a century – a narrative rarely highlighted in mainstream art histories.
She moved to London in 1980 from the US, co‑founded Brixton Art Gallery, and has spent her career championing artists of colour. In this work, she uses clothing and textiles to assert self‑definition, speaking to the complex representations of Black identity.
So, as you stand before this piece, think of the dialogue between two artists across time and culture, each asserting a presence that refuses to be erased.
See it in person
Homage to Frida Kahlo is in the collection of Tate Britain on Millbank, London — free to enter. Point your phone at any artwork there and audioguide.london plays a free audio guide in six languages — no app download needed.
