Self-taught artist, writer, art educator, and curator Angelita Hampton was the first to be featured in a new Indianapolis tradition, “Frida by colors.” The annual exhibition, which debuted on July 26, 2024, features works inspired by revolutionary Frida Kahlo and created by artists of color.
Watch, listen, and/or read as Hampton takes you through the Fonseca-Du Bois Gallery at the Indianapolis Liberation Center, highlighting some of the many pieces we were fortunate to exhibit. As she discusses her artistic processes, her relationship to Frida Kahlo, and more, it will soon be apparent why Hampton was a natural fit for the annual exhibition of works of art inspired by revolutionary Frida Kahlo created by artists of color.
“Frida by colors:” Angelita Hampton
Transcript
Hi, my name is Angelita Hampton and I’m an artist, born and raised here in Indianapolis.
So, I mostly paint and collage images of women of color, and this show in particular is all Frida. It’s called “Frida by Colors,” and I really wanted to showcase all the ways that Frida Kahlo can be highlighted through different styles and mediums.
I lived in Mexico for four months when I was in college and, I’m finding now that I’m working as a professional artist many years later, that I was really influenced by my time in Mexico. Frida was a socialist, a revolutionary, and really outspoken, and I am really inspired by that. I do a lot of work in social justice in my painting and my writing. And then she’s a portrait artist— she did mostly portraits of herself—and I do mostly portraits, and every time I see another image of her I just want to create a new Frida Kahlo.
I do print making and collage work, um this piece is in ink spray. I have started working in some 3-dimensional collage and assemblage. I’ve never met a medium that I didn’t like. I really focus on experience and experimentation. I don’t normally have an image in mind when I start working. I go with the flow and feel the process and read things into the work as I’m looking at it. I like to be a participant and an observer, and so it’s a real collaboration between me and the things that I’m using to create my art.
This little piece is actually one of my favorites. I used ink spray for the background and then this is a piece of transparency that I used for her figure. I do a lot of print making and I use the transparencies to transfer the images from mono prints. This one I drew the image and thought about making a print out of it, but instead I used alcohol ink to color it in so you can see there’s the reflection and some shimmer against the matte background. And this is a picture of Frida Kahlo when she was really young, and she’s holding a revolver, so she’s got that revolutionary spirit, and that’s one of my favorite pieces. I use ink spray a lot, so I’ve used it in the background here and then made a print of her face.
If I’m not painting faces I’m painting flowers, those are kind of my two favorite things. And this piece was also made as a print—so I used a large piece of transparency and transferred the image. This came originally from a really detailed pencil drawing and then… I like to have layers to my work and see things morph into other things, so the same image the transparency that I used for this I projected it um and did a large outline of it on this piece and then painted that with watercolor and acrylic. So you can see it’s the same image, but things look really different depending on what style and medium you use.
Then this piece has another complimentary piece in the gallery. I made a print um of this with a large piece of transparency and then went back in and did some highlights and shadowing as I will sometimes do. This one was really fun because I used the bottom of a jar to do everything in circles—so everything is done in circles—you can see with her flowers and hair and then the accents.
Sometimes I like to leave the background showing through an image, and then sometimes I do overpainting, but you can still see some of the blue peeking through. I like to imagine my art much like the work in Mexico, seeing murals on the walls and having that sort of worn and weathered look and the feeling of, you know, an image, really, kind of emerging from the canvas.
And then this last piece—I did several pieces like this where I was practicing um using different colors for the face—so before my style emerged having the colorful backgrounds showing through the faces, I started by practicing a little piece like this. And that’s… these are some of my favorite pieces, again, lots of color and, yeah, it was just really exciting to be able to show all these many faces of Frida.
Yeah, it’s great. I love the Indy Liberation Center. Eduardo Luna is the one that asked me to participate in the show. He’s part of Arte Mexicano en Indiana, and it’s been a dream come true to be able to showcase all of my Frida Kahlo works, and it’s been a great reception, and everyone’s just been really wonderful.
Featured photo: A composite image of Angelita Hampton and part of her “Frida by colors” exhibit.” Credit: Indianapolis Liberation Center.
