Frida Kahlo

I have never seen a Frida Kahlo painting until I had the opportunity to attend the Frida & Diego: Love & Revolution exhibition at the AGSA. There are roughly 150 works from the Jacques and Natasha Gelman Collection showcasing some of Frida’s most iconic works. The show is especially successful because her work hangs side by side with Diego Rivera’s and affords the chance to be seen in the broader context of the Mexican Modernist movement. I will focus primarily on Frida’s work for the sake of this discussion. 

Her style appears to combine traditional representation with a kind of illustration in order to convey her vision. This hyper-representation enables a unique individualized form of Surrealism. But it is achieved in a way that appears both lucid and effortless. She combines autobiographical and cultural symbology in a unique synthesis that could be described as radical. Sometimes described as magical realism or new objectivity, contemporary artists and critics such as Andre Breton and Bertram D. Wolfe describe Kahlo’s work as individualized Surrealism. To me this challenge to compartmentalize her work reflects her individuality and independence from convention. Perhaps her style is best described as combining realism with surrealistic elements, folk art, violence and death.

Today Frida Kahlo is celebrated as an international artist but she is also seen as quintessentially Mexican. What are some of her influences? 

Following the revolution, Mexicanidad rejected colonialist elitism with its European bias. Indigenous cultural traditions were Kahlo’s passion and inheritance and became critical subject material for her, along with her artist husband Diego Rivera. But Kahlo’s expression combines a unique individualised expression that is particularly poignant today because it also conveys triumph over adversity. Her tragic road accident at age eighteen meant for life long disability. Today we value diverse cultural groups more and more and historical figures such as Kahlo spearhead the achievement of not only women artists but also that of disability. Through her artistic vision she is able to confront stereotypes and change them in the eyes of future generations.

Workplace bullies

You know the story. We receive it, witness it or hear about it. It seems to be everywhere including social media, schools, workplaces. For many bullying in the workplace is particularly troublesome as it effects one’s livelihood. But the narrative regarding workplaces seems strangely absent. Not many people are talking about it.


Is there any observable pattern or strategy regarding workplace bullying? What forces drive toxic work environments and who controls them? It turns out that we can recognise four key perpetrators. These individuals are behind typically destructive workplaces and enable them to perpetuate.
The following summary is a reality check that will surely blow your mind!

The Screaming Mimi
They are the boss or supervisor instilling fear into the worker through public shock tactics with the purpose of paralysing the subject with surprise. Their tactic is to be unnerving and destabilising. The victim has the shocked look with the dropped jaw expression. This paralysis tactic is also designed to frighten co-workers so they can be primed later as ally to the bully. The Screaming Mimi is typically seen as the prototype bully but statistically is the rarest.
The Constant Critic
They get you behind closed doors and drill you with unjustifiable criticism with the knowledge they will be believed over you because they are managers. They misuse performance appraisal system (used in proper workplaces) as their primary tactic to undermine the integrity of the victim.
The chosen targets are well liked workers and technically skilled workers or the ‘go to’ worker. They apply unrelenting criticism. This is spread to other workers They are targeting the psyche of the worker to traumatise them so they will believe themselves to be incompetent.
The Two Headed Snake
Beware the hugging boss or manager because while they’re hugging you they are stabbing you in the back. They will hug you early in their work relationship with you. They employ passive aggressive techniques. They exhibit Jekyll and Hyde personality traits. They are both back stabbers and rumour mongers. In a supervisory role they fail to stop rumours which control the competent worker’s reputation. If the worker is alert to the corruption and takes action through moving to another department or workplace, The Two Headed Snake will make sure the escapee is saddled with the rumours as concrete reputation. In the new workplace the worker is greeted with the proviso that ‘you can’t do what you did in your former workplace’ etc.
These three type of bullies are attempting to redefine the competent worker as incompetent through actively questioning and attacking their identity, their psyche. This is the most traumatising element. This type of bullying is also known as co-mission.
The fourth type of bully employs withholding resource rather than active or co-mission bullying.
The Gatekeeper
The Gatekeeper filters out key information so as to control those around them and to protect the corrupted workplace. They are not necessarily managers. They can enforce arbitrary deadlines that are designed to control other workers. Only the target victim receives these unrealistic deadlines while others are unburdened. The Gatekeeper controls the social environment so as to deprive the victim of inclusion. They deny the worker any assistance and the opportunity to collaborate with co-workers. The victim is attacked during greatest vulnerability such as after a vacation, first day back after a divorce or first day back from sickness.

This summary reveals the stereotypical behaviour of empowered bullies and should provide a stark warning for those subject to them. It should lead to one simple conclusion: leave. Simply put, you are too valuable.

From workplacebullying.org

Psychopath

One percent of the population is a Psychopath. This percentage doubles or quadruples in high power positions such as lawyers, business leaders or surgeons. Because it is a spectrum disorder it can vary considerably from one individual to the next. But how do you identify a Psychopath?

Psychopathy has qualities of the two other personality types in ‘the dark triad’. Machiavellianism and Narcissism together with Psychopathy make up the triad.

One of the key shared conditions amongst all three personality types is a lack of empathy. There is also the absence of remorse and of guilt. If they pity it is for those who show kindness or compassion. To them, such feelings are a sign of weakness. 

Another Psychopathy trait is low impulse control and can see them engage in violent and risky behavior. Extreme situations may occur where the Psychopath will dispatch or kill someone on impulse. The phrase ‘act now, think later’ is scarily appropriate in regards the Psychopathy personality.

Psychopathy can be seen as having two separate models. There exists a primary or factor one type and a secondary, factor two type. ‘Act now and think later’ describes the impulsive inclination tied up with factor two Psychopathy. The manipulation, power jostling character of psychopaths describes primary Psychopathy where calculation and cunning are used against competition.

A lot has been written on Psychopathy and it is popular subject material in fiction and the movies. Hannibal Lecter immediately comes to mind. What is not commonly understood is the nuanced condition of Psychopathy, how it is part of ’the dark triad’ and how certain traits are shared with both Machiavellianism and Narcissism. In short, malevolence may vary from one individual to the next. And because Psychopathy is a spectrum disorder it may not be at all obvious. It could be your friended person on social media, your neighbour down the street or even a member of your family.