Flaming Idols are altar candles featuring inspiring figures of the LGBTQ community, created and handmade by Philadelphia artist and activist Robin Markle.
 
Frida Kahlo (1907-1954) was a Mexican painter and cultural figure. Frida endured physical pain throughout her life as a result of childhood polio and a trolley accident in which she was gravely injured at age 18. Frida began painting as a way to pass time while she was confined to her bed in the months after the accident. Frida primarily painted self portraits. She once said “I paint myself because I am so often alone and because I am the subject I know best.” Frida's paintings depicted womens' experiences in ways that were not seen in most media. Because of this, she has been heralded as a feminist icon.

Frida sought to be an anti-capitalist revolutionary and was involved in Communist parties and causes throughout her life. The outfit she wears in this illustration is based on a plaster cast she wore due to her spinal injuries that she painted with a hammer and sickle. In an entry in her diary from 1951, Frida writes, "I feel uneasy about my painting. Above all I want to transform it into something useful for the Communist revolutionary movement, since up to now I have only painted the earnest portrayal of myself, but I’m very far from work that could serve the Party. I have to fight with all my strength to contribute the few positive things my health allows me to the revolution. The only true reason to live for."

You might light this candle and look to Frida for inspiration and guidance in: carrying on the revolutionary spirit, art as transformation, honoring the body as a site of trauma and reclamation
 
Each unscented soy wax candle burns for approximately 10 hrs. Glass votives are 2.5" high and 2" wide at the base.