Announcement
I am thrilled to share the news that my embroidered hoop “Homage to Kahlo’s Self Portrait as Tehuana,” is now on display in the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, as part of its "Frida: The Making of an Icon" exhibit (Jan 19-May 17, 2026). The museum acquired the artwork, which will travel with the exhibition to the Tate Modern in London (June 2026-Jan 2027). The piece is also included in the print catalogue. I could not be more honored or humbled to have one of my creations hanging in the same exhibit as Frida's own paintings. It is a dream that I still can't quite believe.
Nina Shope: Fiber Artist
Talismans, folk art, and objects of creative and spiritual inspiration have helped me feel emotionally and artistically connected throughout my life. As a self-taught fiber artist, I gravitate toward the mythical, the archetypal, the strange. I embrace imagery and language that conveys a dark and compelling beauty, that explores the harrowing experience of embodiment, and that provokes empathy, connection, and transformative emotion. Hence my fascination with Frida Kahlo. She reminds us of core truths: that damage metamorphosizes, that wounds can become talismans, and that struggle can lead to the most powerful forms of expression. My work endeavors to honor a wide range of cultural influences—Mexican, Haitian, Native American, Middle Eastern, and more. I draw inspiration from the long legacy of women who told stories with needle and thread (including my own great-grandmother, whose crewel work hangs on my walls). You can read more about me on my "About" page.
Ornate Frida Kahlo Hoops
One of Frida's unique strengths was her ability to allow the tendrils of her pain to burgeon into works of terrible beauty--the stems and roots of which bind us to her today. My highly elaborate embroidered hoops recreate and reinterpret Frida's paintings and drawings. I envision the threads of these artworks as continuations of those shoots, connecting me (and you) viscerally to her art. Needlework has long been considered “women’s work” and associated with what is quaint and safe and decorative and gendered—and I feel like those are associations and boundaries that Frida loved to play with and destroy in her paintings—so honoring her work through fiber art feels particularly fitting to me. For many people, myself included, Frida inspires an intense craving for spiritual communion. By entering the world of her artwork, we feel less alone and more bound to the world, to others, to ourselves.
Tree of Hope
My homage to one of Kahlo's most vivid paintings, "The Tree of Hope" (1946). Lacerated with color, cleaved into two selves, Kahlo sits vigil over her own wounded body in a landscape that has literally split in half. 22" round embroidered hoop art with beads, sequins, gold chain and charm.
The Wounded Table
My recreation of Kahlo's lost masterpiece, "The Wounded Table" (1940). Frida sits at a oozing and bloody table, guest at a "last supper" in which every figure--both animate and inanimate--embodies her wounded state. 16" x 27" oval embroidered hoop art with beads, sequins, and bullion.
Blackwork Frida
Inspired by a black-and-white sketch of Frida, this large hoop utilizes the centuries-old technique of Blackwork stitching. Frida stares out from the fabric, brow overlaid by a seemingly pinioned bird, a single tear on her cheek, as her hair and lacy blouse mirror the uprooted flower suspended above her. 19"x28" oval embroidered hoop art with beads and Milagro hand charm.
Without Hope
My homage to Frida's haunting painting "Without Hope" (1945). Frida lies dwarfed and naked, trapped under heavy sheets, her bed stranded in a barren volcanic landscape, her body straddled by a looming easel that props up an overflowing cornucopia of meat.
14" round embroidered hoop art with sequins.
Self Portrait with Thorn Necklace
Inspired by Kahlo's 1940 Self-Portrait for her physician. Frida sits impassively and poised against an opalescent sky and tangled garden of leaves and branches. A necklace of thorn tears and scratches at her throat, disturbing the image's seeming tranquility.
10" round embroidered hoop art with sequins, millinery flowers, artificial flowers and stamens.
Frida with Cacti
Frida poses in a vibrant flower crown amidst blooming Christmas cacti, wearing a necklace of garnet that resemble blood drops, and from which a bird charm dangles.
19" x 14" oval embroidered hoop art with vintage sequins, garnet, millinery flowers and stamens, bird and hand charms, artificial cacti, and abalone butterfly charms.
Self-Portrait Dedicated to Trotsky
My version of Frida's "Self Portrait (Dedicated to Leon Trotsky)." Frida stands on a curtained stage, "presenting" herself as a beguiling temptation for her former lover, flowers clasped in her hands and a letter proclaiming dedication to Trotsky "with all her love."
8" round embroidered hoop art with sequins, beads, up cycled fabric, garnet, and ribbon.
Thinking About Death
An interpretation of Kahlo's 1943 painting "Thinking About Death." Frida levels her gaze at the viewer, a pastoral landscape dominated by a skull in place of her third eye, like a window into her thoughts. Behind her, a wall of jungle leaves are threaded through with vines.
7" round embroidered hoop art with sequins, Indonesian skull bead, and beadwork.