A fable / crónicá:

My only childhood memory is my mother whispering in my ear, “Little basurita, one day you will die.” It turned me on. For the first time, I realized my godlike power.The secret name was revealed, and after wailing and a loud gasp, I could feel massive butterfly wings sprouting through my shoulder blades. I flew past my own desert grave, then reincarnated as MARIPOSA DIVINA, a transexual in a windy city far from home. My new life was no paradise, but I made friends with the serpent women, and we made a protective pact to watch each others’ backs and crochet our broken hearts together.

[Mariposa’s poem of El Espejo:The Mirror, from when I was nine] Dec, 30, 2005

Con el espejo veo mi rostro

Y el espejo me cuida, no otro

Con el yo voy a estar

Y alli me voy a quedar

Con el veo cosas maravillosas

Fantasía, logros , y mariposas

Preparare mi veliz

Para ir con él y ser feliz

Mi espejo se llama miguel

Y no me separare de el

In the mirror I see my face

Only the mirror takes care of me, no one else

I will be with him

And that’s where I’ll stay

With him I see wonderful things

Fantasies, realisations, and butterflies

I’ve prepared my suitcase

To go with him and be happy

My mirror’s name is Miguel

And I will never separate from him

La Basurita is a tender, hopeful tragedy in three nonlinear acts, populated by glazed ceramic stransculptures and fabricated metal shapes wrapping around the landscapes of Co-Prosperity’s window exhibition spaces. The acts, in no particular order, and without giving away which window maqueta maps onto our many secret names, are as follows:

ACT ! [ Pleasuregarden / Sueño con Serpientes ]

Genderfluid fashion and giddy get-ups! Butterflies frolicking in the light of golden hour! When I close my eyes and the sun swirls on my lids, this is the dissociative parable of paradise I see. Here in the pleasuregarden I can play and flirt with the earth to my ass’s content. Writhing in pleasure, I multiply and bloom a thousand little deaths.

Act ? [Darkness / Rot / Transformation ]

I face my death over and over, then cross to the other side. Memento mori is ancient medicine.

I lean into the mirror and take a selfie with my dark shadow selves.

ACT </3 [ Exceptional Friendships / Creating stars ]

Resting in my friends’ arms: is this where home is?. Even if it’s ephemeral I can trust we will find each other again in our memories, dreams, and promises.

Visual reference points / inspiration:

Niki de Saint Phalle’s Queen Califia’s Magic Circle in California, Ana Teresa Fernandez’s border performance art in heels, Javier Tellez’s human cannonball, Helio Oiticica’s Parangolés, Asco’s walking murals, Ana Mendieta’s facial hair transplant performances, Adrian Piper’s Mything Being, Sofia Moreno’s trash gender art with needles, heels and snakes, Gloria Anzaldúa’s Sueño Con Serpientes chapter in Borderlands.

Keywords:

Archetypes, matrilineal, faerie, frolicking, paradisepleasuregardens, trash/asco, turning windows into mirrors, inner child, world-making, fables, snake women, healing, rest, composure, holding self, dissociation, imagining, nonbinary faggotry and friends, sensual play, maquetas, disposability, fashion.

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Tags: Bridgeport, Chicago, Co-prosperity, Mariposa Divina, Mariposa Divina: La Basurita