A Love Letter From A Stray Moon

Jay Griffiths,Jay Griffiths

A Love Letter From A Stray Moon
Format
Paperback
Publisher
Text Publishing Co
Country
Australia
Published
28 March 2011
Pages
128
ISBN
9781921758027

A Love Letter From A Stray Moon

Jay Griffiths,Jay Griffiths

I am Frida, and I am not Frida.
I am the moon, hollowed out by remorse.
I am many women, I answer to many names.
My prayer is from the forests of Mexico, from the molten heart of the earth.
Fly closer, fly nearer to me.
In this fictional tour de force Jay Griffiths, author of the acclaimed Wild, creates a portrait of the artist Frida Kahlo -

her devastating accident and her love for Diego Rivera -

that is also a celebration of the spirit of poetry and the art of rebellion. Spellbinding and luminous, A Love Letter from a Stray Moon is a unique work about passion, grief and transcendence.

Review

Griffiths has taken the life ofFrida Kahlo as inspiration,creating a fictional autobiographythat is a passionate odeto love and creation at theirmost pure and primal. Actsthat can inspire delirious joy,or knee-jerk reactionary fear– art that has consequences beyond successfound within the four walls of a museum,the earnest documentary or the polite review– art that can incite tears and rebellion.

For this purpose, there can hardly be a bettersubject than Frida. Despite a horrific accidentas a young woman, she lived her life tothe maximum and her paintings are honestand raw outward expressions of an individual’sinner pain, depicting subject matterthat continues to resonate: love, fertility anddeath. Frida’s exuberant identification withindigenous Mexican mythology created apowerful sense of connectedness to the earthand nature, which is another window ofexpression for the author of this book.

I started reading this deceptively slim volumewith some hesitation – there have beensome notoriously melodramatic/pretentiousrenditions of the artistic life – but as I foundGriffith’s voice harmonising with what Iknow of Frida’s life, I was swept up andseduced. Through the great love that Fridahad for Diego Rivera, the pain of Frida’saccident and the subsequent loss of fertilityand motherhood; love, loss and maternalismare explored in Griffith’s whirling prose.Recently, I received a bewildering advertisementfor shoes à la Frida Kahlo – not onlydid they not look remotely Mexican (tome), they had really high heels – perhapsthat was meant to represent the metal rodsthat impaled the young Kahlo. Frida of themonobrow as fashion promotion?! Styleand guts: yes, in buckets. Griffiths has takenthese qualities and wrought a lyrical piecethat soars – and takes you with it.

Margaret Snowdon is Art & Design Buyer

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