THE TWO FRIDAS, BY LAS YEGUAS DEL APOCALIPSIS

In 1987, Pedro Lemebel co-founded with Francisco Casas the collective Yeguas del Apocalipsis (The Mares of the Apocalypse), an arts performance group. The group performed in exhibitions and cultural events reaching its intended audience through actions that ranged from performance arts, video, installation, transvestism and photography. Many of their performances challenged the heteronormative social paradigms of gender and sex and invited individuals to reflect on the plight of minorities repressed under Pinochet and then further stigmatized with by the advent by AIDS.

The Two Fridas is the transvestite scenography of the painting by Mexican artist Frida Kahlo "The Two Fridas" (1939). In this reenactment, the setting of the members of the art group is reversed compared to the original painting. The artist on the right wears a typical Mexican dress and his heart is closed, whereas the one on the left wears a Victorian dress and has an open heart. They have bare torsos and oil paint on the skin, holding hands and connected through a blood catheter, just the way it is depicted in Frida Kahlo's painting.

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