Nahui Olin

Mexican avant-garde artist who redefined female creativity

Born Carmen Mondragón in 1893, this Mexican firebrand became the muse and nemesis of Diego Rivera. Her 1924 poetry collection 'Óptica Cerebral' broke linguistic conventions while her erotic self-portraits shocked 1920s Mexico.

She staged radical performance art - once dancing naked with live snakes in a Mexico City theater. As feminist provocateur, Olin declared: 'A woman who thinks is dangerous, but a woman who thinks and creates is revolutionary.'