May perfection rest in peace. Life is evolution, not perfection.
This compendium of letters revolves around sexuality and creativity. The author reports situations of harassment, rape and other issues related to the womb. Generally, these types of situations are kept secret because of the guilt that victims feel. The recapitulation process is a technique to lighten the conflict and probably assist the acceptance process of someone who has gone through similar experiences. Victorieux presents worldly stories, articles of appreciation of works of art around sexuality, and also some healing suggestions; mainly accepting that help is needed, and meditations. It is an exercise in humility to accept that we are vulnerable, and to continue loving each other. «XIX. Solar Sphinx” presents the universe of Vamp Iris Atma Ra among song lyrics, delivery dates for “The Sphinx”, eroticism, the creation and dissemination of the “Kundalini Manifesto”, several allies, a few birds, meleagridinae, nameless and some antagonists… Vamp could be considered a transformer of consciences, or simply a survivor of the multitudinous place that is Mexico City.
For almost three decades Ra’al Ki has built her identities in performance, visual and scenic art in which she has contextualized her work concerning activism and various social issues. Whereby it is combined with artistic research, this is one of its main qualities to cause astonishment. She states that “In the performance process I have drunk from different sources, social sciences, spiritual practices and community experiences.” Her work usually combines performance, fiction and documentary facts, in what she calls: perfofaction. “I build my performance identities in a way similar to what a writer draws or writes on a paper the essence and character of each character: I write a life story, favourite colour, fashion style, profession, religion, qualities, impulse of life, the sources of suffering, the virtue of the evil of each character, duality that when transcending it always allows sharing a teaching”, —affirms the author.
Vamp is related to the struggle we all have between chaos and order. She is a character that clashes with the ideas of the people, who when finding her in the street with her daring outfit, get a blow to their ideas, she moves the common image they have in their mind of how a woman “should be”.
In general terms, Mexico is a conservative and Catholic country; women are expected to be wives and mothers, to dress demurely and to care for the fire in the home. In that case, we can affirm that Vamp is a «black sheep», or a «scapegoat»; she defends her freedom of conscience and expression with fervour, a little to stumble and stumble, but without giving up. Her spirituality does not belong to an institution but integrates knowledge from the east and the west. She enjoys exploring the roads, the highways, the nights, the parties, and she likes the gothic, black and shiny clothing. Although she has had several partners, she has not married, and she refuses to settle for someone just to be accompanied, or to feel protected, she is a hopeless romantic who seeks for love, and if that is not what she finds in the relationship, she is ready to cut the lines and continue on her way. She is a person who accepts their shadows and presents them to us arranged in chapters, as an invitation to recognize those penumbras that await us between closets, cellars, basements and daybeds. When we face crises with the resolution to survive, we can overcome the corruptions of life, and generate a new construction, more resilient and brilliant. The autobiographical discourse of “XIX. Solar Sphinx”, advances with irony and humour through the disastrous, dramatic and horrendous. At times the protagonist reveals her fragility, and yet the work aims to transcend the ups and downs and share the tools of light and healing. Hopefully, the transmutation that is represented in the protagonist can be useful for that change in the readers. We are in a moment of the resurgence of the feminine, and yet the statistics of harassment, rape and femicide remind us that there is a long way to go in order to achieve peaceful and loving coexistence between men and women. This book shows a commitment to heal the history of violence against women, promote their self-affirmation and contribute to their light.
It has been men who have generally had the stage to write their autobiographies. José Vasconcelos left us some monumental memories. The generation of the Mexican mid-twentieth century, with Sergio Pitol, José Emilio Pacheco, Juan García Ponce, Salvador Elizondo, and Carlos Monsiváis, undertook the task of carrying out their “early autobiographies”. In women, this work is generally linked to the rescue of personal diaries, and epistolary compilation, as in the case of Frida Kahlo. Rosario Castellanos is a writer who called for awareness in the feminine culture. Another brilliant antecedent of women writers in Mexico is that of Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz. Many of her works went against a patriarchal society that did not admit freedom of spirit in women. Among the contemporary Mexican authors, who reflect the culture and their way of seeing the world, we find: Valeria Luiselli, Fernanda Melchor, Brenda Navarro, Nora Coss, Guadalupe Nettel. Although the general public hardly locates the name of one or two writers in front of a library dominated by male names. It is important to summon, promote and spread the female voices; include them in the cultural conversation, so that our vision of the world is enriched with the beauty of women’s creativity.
To speak of sexuality is to speak of knowledge and creativity, it is to speak of word and construction. Hence, “XIX. Sphinx Solar” addresses this theme through eleven chapters and still leaves a lot of fabric to cut. The narrative style incorporates cultural journalism, the transcription of spiritual and meditation texts, with the chronicle or narration halfway between performance and newspaper. The protagonist is fragmented and rebuilt again, with great attention to detail, with faith, dignity, splendour. She, also known as «The Sphinx», is more than a character, an alter ego or heteronym, Vamp has become the reflection and creation of a lifestyle; in a testimony that seduces us in its timeless drama.
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