A decade of negotiation between a regional Victorian art gallery and the Museo Frida Kahlo has lead to this point.

Torso casts covered in drawings and a red-booted prosthetic leg are wrapped; jewellery, cosmetics and colourful dresses are carefully enclosed in archival tissue paper.

And, of course, the paintings are added to climate controlled crates then loaded on the plane alongside Museo caretakers.

From Mexico to Melbourne in a two month transportation process shrouded in secrecy to protect the security of the artefacts, they finally arrive.

Lovingly unpacked, each piece is inspected and prepared.

No one will ever see it, but several handcrafted undergarments have even been designed to simulate every curve, every contour of Frida’s body as it was in real life.

And just like that, all of the years of negotiation, collaboration and planning come together and the Bendigo Art Gallery opens an exhibition never before seen in Australia.

Frida Kahlo In Her Own Image, an “intimate exploration” of the woman behind the art, exhibits the artist’s personal effects only discovered in 2004 — half a century after her husband sealed them away after her death in 1954.

The collection showcases how the artist carefully “constructed and performed” an identity that was as much a part of her artistic vision as her priceless portraits and paintings.

“We wanted to look at how was it that she imagined and literally pieced together this incredibly mesmerising persona that people are so fascinated by?” Bendigo Art Gallery curatorial manager Lauren Ellis says.

“She herself was her own creative project, the way that she fashioned herself in real life, and the way that she worked with photographers to kind of present this image of herself and broadcast it around the world, that this was part of her art practice.

“She’s one of these sort of cultural icons of the 20th century who’s come to symbolise a whole raft of political and social ideas.”

Hundreds of hours of meetings and conversations, held in the small hours of the morning across time zones, built the trust and relationships needed to make the exhibition possible.

Beyond the material concerns for the safety of the artist’s works, moral and ethical issues were raised: Kahlo’s legacy had to be protected, her memory not exploited or commercialised.

It’s not the first time some of Kahlo’s art has featured in Bendigo – in 2018 an exhibition of photographs was a “huge success”.

By 2022, Lauren was flying across the Pacific Ocean for the “big decision time”, ratifying the details of the “very slow and quite expensive” process of importing “completely irreplaceable” heritage protected works.

“Frida is really a cultural treasure in all senses so all her work has protected cultural heritage protection in Mexico,” Lauren says.

The finest details were ironed out, all the way down to the materials used in the displays to ensure no chemicals degraded the Kahlo treasures.

“The standards that are required to put on projects of this calibre are very, very high,” Lauren says.

Melburnian Jacinta Da Silva was prepared to travel to see Kahlo.

She’d hoped to visit the exhibition in Mexico City, and tried to book a ticket to visit in January.

But seven minutes after the tickets Jacinta went on sale “shrieked with utter disappointment” — they were gone, sold out.

“I was only in Mexico City for one day as I was travelling the country on an organised tour, so I had missed my opportunity to visit the museum,” she said.

Kahlo’s pieces have only been to a handful of cities outside of Mexico – arguably some of the art capitals of the world – London, New York, Paris, San Francisco and now, Bendigo.

It was an inflight magazine that gave Jacinta hope.

There, on her more than 16,000km journey to Mexico, she discovered she actually only needed to drive two hours up the road.

“I couldn’t believe my luck,” she says.

Months after her trip to Central America, Jacinta finally saw what she’d been unable to in January.

“I was stepping into her home,” she says.

“I felt I got a glimpse into Frida Kahlo’s life.”

Kahlo is not the first big name to headline Bendigo Art Gallery.

In 2022, Elvis: Direct from Graceland showcased the rock star’s personal effects including his costumes and guitars.

The King of Rock and Roll brought 220,000 people to the city — which in itself has a population of just 122,600 — and generated more than $67m for the Bendigo local economy.

These successes for a gallery that first opened in 1887 and now has about 5000 permanent works have seen it outgrow the existing facilities.

A $50m redevelopment is in the works, Lauren says, to allow Australia’s most visited regional gallery to take on bigger and more ambitious projects.

“It will consolidate our international, growing international reputation, and make us a serious player in that international exhibition space,” she says.

But it’s not just the gallery benefiting from the international exhibitions.

Those hundreds of thousands of visitors also stay in local hotels, shop at local retailers and eat in local restaurants.

While Kahlo is in town, the city has begun a Fiesta Bendigo Campaign, offering dozens of Mexican inspired experiences including a “taco trail” more than 20 restaurants long.

“The Frida Kahlo exhibition is a fantastic opportunity for Bendigo, and local businesses are already embracing the energy and exposure it brings,” Bendigo Chamber of Commerce Be. Bendigo chief executive Hayley Tibbett says.

“Shopfronts across the city have also joined in, with colourful Frida themed displays that add creativity and colour to the streetscape.

“The city is buzzing, and with months still to go, we expect visitation and business activity to keep building.”

Owner of Mitchell St’s Hoo-gah Gina Triolo, who has been offering her own Birria Taco’s on the taco trail, says the gallery – and its exclusive exhibitions – are “great”.

“It generates a lot of business for us … we’re always very keen to get involved because we know straight away we’re going to get customers out of it – so beneficial for the town,” she says.

Across the road from the gallery, Georgie Pell’s Pink Honey sees a massive increase in foot traffic. “It’s really alive, and so many happy people just coming and shopping and exploring Bendigo,” she says.

And just down the road, there’s been “very strong bookings” at David Cook-Dalton’s Hotel Ernest and restaurant Terrae.

“The type of customer who comes to see Frida is the type of person that is culturally aware … The kind of customer who is interested in that comes and stays with us in the hotel, they dine at the restaurants across the region.

“What I love about Bendigo, is we are all team Bendigo.

“The gallery, the hotels, the restaurants, we all work together.

“We see ourselves as ambassadors. We want them to tell their friends, we want them to come back, we want their friends to come back.”

And that regional teamwork is noticed by the visitors.

For Jacinta, it was about embracing everything Bendigo had to offer, enjoying more than a dozen Frida related activities and food offerings.

“What a delight it was for me to drive that two hours from Melbourne and arrive in Bendigo to not only visit the magnificent Frida Kahlo exhibition, but to immerse myself in a community celebrating all things Frida and Mexico,” she says.

“Being greeted by friendly gallery attendants, exploring an exhibition where I learned and felt emotionally moved by the careful curation — to the streets of Bendigo coming alive with shop fronts dressed up for the occasion of Frida and art work celebrating Mexico and it’s culture and colour.”

Come mid-July, Kahlo’s painstaking transportation process begins again.

The prosthetic leg will be wrapped, the jewellery boxed and the paintings stored ready for their long journey back to Mexico City.

But for the art gallery, it won’t be the end.

A new exhibition will be installed, and the whole cycle will begin again.

Frida Kahlo: In her own image runs until July 13, 2025 at the Bendigo Art Gallery. Tickets are $35 for adults.