The first time Cristina Kahlo—great grandniece of Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera—entered a dark room she was 11 years old. Previously forbidden to enter because of the chemicals, she was surprised by an invitation from her father Antonio Kahlo to help print some photographs. In a lecture for the Edith Farnsworth House (a National Trust Historic Site), Kahlo described how “the image started to appear very, very slowly as if magic. That precise moment marked my life because I thought to myself, when I [grow] up, I want to be a magician like my father.”

In August 2026, Kahlo’s photographs were featured as part of Cristina Kahlo: Líneas de Luz y Sombra (Lines of Light and Shadow), the second of three planned installations at the Farnsworth House focusing on Mexican Modernism as part of the Farnsworth Forward initiative. In honor of the house’s 75th year this two-year initiative highlights the relationship of the house to international modernist movements and its dialogue with architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (1886–1969), the designer of the Farnsworth House.

The exhibit explored the enduring relationship between architecture, memory and place, and as the site describes “highlight[ed] the bold lines, dramatic contrasts, and modern spaces that inspired and housed figures such as Frida Kahlo, Georgia O’Keeffe, and Diego Rivera.” During her time at the Farnsworth House, Kahlo also photographed Mies van der Rohe’s masterpiece, putting the house in dialogue with the icons of Mexican Modernism.

While the exhibition is now closed, we wanted to share some images of Kahlo at the Edith Farnsworth House along with the final images she produced. They are shared here in tandem with some words she shared during an interview with staff and from a lecture she presented as part of the exhibit.

This interview has been edited for space and clarity.

Cristina Kahlo on the Geometry of Architecture

I started taking pictures of architectural buildings, not because I was particularly interested in architecture, it was because I was really interested in geometry. And since I was a child, an uncle who was an architect inspired me very much in the fascination of geometry.

Years ago, I started to do a group of photographs in which I included geometric figures. So that's [how] I started my interest in architecture, because the first houses I photographed were the houses in Alta Vista that were built by Juan O'Gorman for Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera.

And it was not because of the characters or the persons who used to live there. It was mostly because these houses, that we have some pictures in the exhibition, have a lot of geometry in their construction.

And during the day, the shadows change incredibly and there are a lot of triangles and squares and things that are produced by the light.

So that was the first time I decided to take pictures of a house, not because of the house, but because of the geometry in the architecture. So since then, it was incredible because I do that for this group of photographs about geometry.

And I started to be hired to photograph different buildings like Casa Barragán and also the Palacio de Bellas Artes [in Mexico City] and many emblematic buildings.

And I always explain that I do not feel that I am a photographer specialized in architecture. I cannot declare myself that way because there are a lot of photographers [whose] expertise is in architecture.

I always explain that I look architecture as a subject to create images, which is really different.

I think that maybe people like that, because they hired me again and again, and I started to become really fascinated not only with architecture, but also with architects, with the thinking of architects, because they have many things to express through their creations, about the thinking they have of life, of how should be the light inside a house and for us, for everyone.

Architecture is something that goes with us everywhere because it's what we see in every country, in every neighborhood,

Cristina Kahlo on Following the Light

It’s really interesting that [with] each house—and it happened to me when I photographed the Casa Barragán and now with this Farnsworth House—you have to discover the place and in the first moment you think that everything that you see already has been photographed.

But when you start looking at the place and you stay for one hour or so, then you start discovering different things and the light changes.

It was funny because, for example, yesterday [when Kahlo was photographing the Farnsworth House] it was like, okay, I'm finished, let's go.

And then a beautiful light appears from one moment to another. And it was like, oh, it's 5 minutes. And then you start again, because in 5 minutes, the light will change. So, the wall or the shadow that is on the floor is completely different from one moment to another.

Traveling [with a photographer] is horrible because you have to wait all the time on the photographer to take pictures.

It's because of that, because you get in love with the place and start looking to the details, and I think that statement of Mies van der Rohe is completely true.

"God is in the details," because once you discover the details, it's like something mystical, something very spiritual.

Cristina Kahlo on Photography as Magic