The other woman in this photo is Chavela Vargas, an influential ranchera singer-songwriter. Though she didn’t “officially” come out as a lesbian until late in life, she was well-known for dressing in men’s clothing and not changing lyrics/pronouns when performing songs traditionally sung by men. She and Frida are alleged to have had a relationship.
chavela actually did talk about her relationship with frida very explicitly! she even lived in frida’s house for an extended period of time. here’s some things they said/wrote about each other:
chavela: “frida loved me. it’s a shame I burned a letter she wrote where she said, ‘I live for you and diego only.’ it was a beautiful love. she used to say, ‘I birthed you. I had you.’ and I told her, ‘yes, I feel your blood in mine.’ she gave birth to me. I admired her deeply, but I loved her more than I admired her paintings. she had her black mustache. it was thick, thick black hair. I loved seeing her eyebrows and her mustache. and she loved her mustache.” (x)
frida: “carlos [pellicer], I met chavela vargas today. an extraordinary, lesbian woman. in fact, I took a liking to her erotically. I don’t know if she felt what I did, but I think she is a very liberal woman, and if she asked, I would not hesitate a second before undressing in front of her. how often do we not just want a good lay? she is, I repeat, erotic. is she perhaps a gift sent to me from heaven?” (x)
You know when stevie nicks was like listen to the wind blow, down comes the night running in the shadows, damn your love, damn your lies. break the silence, damn the dark, damn the light
