Catártica: January '22 by Catártica Revista

Enero '22

No. 3

Vol. 1

Buymeacoffee.com/catartica

Caravaggio, Michelangelo. (c. 1608) Sleeping Cupid, [oil on canvas] Pitti Palace, Italy.

Catártica is a space to talk about art outside the official discourse, the one that escapes from definitions, and at the same time a place for fiction, essays and poetry to wander around naked, putting the writer and the public in confrontation.

Caravaggio, M. (c. 1607) San Jerónimo, [oil on canvas]

The world only exists because I exist Antonella Guagnelli

Not everything is... Rossanna Huerta

fail nat.cisa

The Aspiration on the wall Bruno Sánchez

How the iguanas chew Arturo González Lara Engracia

25 28

Victor Rivera Santa Fake Carolina Gómez

Hypnotic Mónica Alemán

Is it too much already? M.I. Flores Nachón

THE WORLD ONLY EXISTS BECAUSE I EXIST Antonella Guagnelli To start the year Catártica presents a cover where she is the only one that matters because like Narcissus, she is never tired of seeing her reflection. Taking as a reference the painting, Narcissus (1597 - 1599), by the Italian painter Caravaggio (1571 - 1610), the cover recovers the famous legend of a young man who is so beautiful and who had so much consideration for himself that he ends up falling in love with his reflection, after seeing himself in the lake's water. Narcissus, unable to separate himself from his image, stops eating and sleeping, letting the days go by while his heart breaks as much as his spirit because when he tries to approach his reflection, it disappears.

From this same myth, it is said that Narcissus died drowned, but that the gods granted him the chance to become a flower that only blooms in winter and that, like him, remains eternally leaning over the water of rivers and lakes, where it contemplates itself until it withers. Like this flower, Catártica is born in winter, the first days of the year see it grow and share with its audience hundreds of words. On January 20, 2022, we are happy to celebrate the second anniversary of the magazine, a medium through which we have been able to share with you a little bit of art, culture, and happiness.

Cover: Narcissus, (1597-1599), oil on canvas, Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica, Rome, Italy Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio

Now, to talk a little about the painting, it has a simple composition that is divided horizontally in two. In the upper part, we can see Narcissus, who fills with his size the space and exceeds the limits of the frame, giving a closeness that allows the public to feel closer to the character and his emotions. In the lower part of the painting, we can see the blurred reflection of Narcissus, but also the continuation of his arms, which form a rectangle that helps to give continuity to the composition. Another important element that can be highlighted is the dramatic use of light, an important characteristic of baroque painting, which takes the chiaroscuro technique a step further by emphasizing the light with shadows and almost completely black backgrounds, to gradually become a new technique that will be widely used during the baroque period, tenebrism.

Caravaggio, M. (c. 1595) Apolo tocando el laúd, [óleo sobre lienzo]

Little Girl leaning on her mother’s knee. (1900) [Oil on canvas]

NOT EVERYTHING IS...

VAN GOGH

Rossanna Huerta 8

Woman with a pearl necklace in a Loge. (1879) [Oil on canvas]

I still remember the day that a friend from college was promoting her art gallery and selling some cute little stickers to raise money; one of those stickers that caught my attention said “So much art history and you still like Van Gogh”. I felt it was aggressive and made you feel that it was your own fault for not knowing about some non-basic artists. I don't blame her, for someone who studied Art History it was difficult seeing how everyone just loved the same 3 painters without realizing that there are millions of wonderful artists to discover. This is where the idea of this column was also born, but without the aggressive nuance, so, to start the year on the right foot, therefore, with a drum roll, I introduce you to Mary Cassatt.

Lilacs on the Window. (1900) [Oil on canvas]

Cassatt is a forgotten American artist of the Impressionism movement, they almost always give a place to Monet, Manet, or Degas but I must remind you that a large part of the artists that we do not know have been "discarded" by museums since they do not meet all the characteristics of a certain artistic movement or simply, they do not generate as much money as others. I think that Cassatt's case is interesting as it defies many parameters established for women of her time —maybe that’s the reason why she isn’t so known—; she was a single woman who lived alone in Paris, had no children, and was dedicated to her work as an artist. Of course, I must not ignore the fact that she was the daughter of a banker and that could have allowed her certain privileges that most of the women of her time could not have. She ended up being one of the four great female artists who fully integrated into Impressionism. Along with Berthe Morisot, Eva Gonzáles, and Marie Bracquemond, Cassatt studied how light and color manifest and modify the image of reality that we perceive through our eyes; it was not a search for academic realism but an experiment with each piece presented to us (Vicente, 2018).

In my opinion, one of the main themes that Impressionism usually touches is the landscape, this is because it was possible to observe different shades that a scene could take depending on the light and the environment. Let's just see the series of the Cathedral of Rouen by Monet. There are approximately 30 paintings of the same scene but the only difference is that it portrays the different impressions that light gives to the facade of the Cathedral. Cassatt goes on a completely different side, much more intimate and personal, it is something that I like about her since she does not take it in such a "perverse" way in the sense that we object to what we observe in her paintings but to real people who they convey emotions and warmth. Definitely stand out in her production the images of the social and private life of women, maternity wards, and other paintings where the presence of the female figure is almost always as if claiming (Calvos, 2018). It is a new year and I think we can take the opportunity to reclaim the artists forgotten by history and give them the space that they should always have occupied alongside their colleagues. Mary Cassatt is on the same level as the great figures of impressionism but she stands out even more for the allusive naturalism that she presents in the daily life of the subject most ignored by history without actually objectifying it. Vicente, A. (2018) Mary Cassat, la impresionista olvidada. El país. https://elpais.com/cultura/2018/03/27/actualidad/1522151403_837829.html Calvos, M. (2018) Mary Cassatt. Historia del arte!. https://historiaarte.com/artistas/mary-cassat

IN THE END 12

collage information: falla natcisa collage october 2021 (previous publication in an artistic collective fanzine (sobre)vivir desde el pensamiento)

the never-ending existential question of how far we should go, how much we should do. sometimes we feel like no matter how hard we try, the outcome is always negative. “something better will come”, “you’ll see you’ll get what you work for”, they say. but when? when will i finally feel that what i do makes sense? that i make sense? who can lift the dreadful feeling of doing everything wrong and in vain up from me? i dont need comfort, no more you’ll see and promising futures. where are the great presents? the ones where i can see that everything makes sense? because living searching for answers is exhausting, and boring–it stains life. will the day when i wake up saying finally, feeling happy where i am and with who i’m? of what i do? wish the world could stop for one second, just one is all i ask for so i can breathe.

i tried so hard and got so far but in the end it doesn't even matter ihad to fall to lose it all but in the end it doesn't even matter In the End de Linkin Park, 2001.

Bruno Sánchez Aspirationism, which has come to be misunderstood as a selfish ideal, is actually part of the needs of the human psyche for personal satisfaction as part of its complement as a person, it is not illegal or a sin to transcend a professional, affective situation or socioeconomic better than when one integrates into the world. Aspirations are what allow us to consider ourselves people and not simple entities that fulfill a function without grace or conscience, this is made up of the individual constancies of our abilities and the supposed value that we believe it deserves put into practice and exhibited before society or to us even if it were about what has not yet been made tangible and for the indescribable and highly personal feeling of gaining independent control of how and where his life will go according to his person and abilities whose validation depends almost entirely on external agents to our control and knowledge, that is, the expectation and hope, the idea of ascending to the treatment of what one should be and the satisfying desire of what one wants to be.

O'Gorman, J., Representación Histórica de la Cultura

Aspirationism would then be both a prologue and an epilogue to the great events of humanity that have caused high-level transformations in a territory or in society in general at times when the population has no other choice but to adapt to the overflows of bigger forces to survive and, consequently, adapt. This has been roughly the cycle that marks the identity between civilizations, be it due to armed conflicts, environmental causes, precarious quality of life or mere personal need. People work, study or migrate to improve, always, whether it is also in cases not to improve themselves but to improve the quality of their legacy and offspring in contrast to their origin, generally marked by the stagnant conformism that is forced on the majority. to accept and contribute to it. One hopes that the quality of where they live is equivalent to the quality of the intentions and abilities that one develops or at least that there is a mutual respect that allows the creator to create and achieve that psychological satisfaction that he needs to continue with his own cycle of creating and deserving. . If there is prosperity in that area, city or country then it will give prosperity to the creator and his work, right? Well, not necessarily, the quality of life takes into account the usefulness of those who provide their skills as services, in one way or another, to the great systematic machinery of state, economy or industry which, in turn, these their functions are to maintain and try to improve the quality of life of those who are part of that "voluntary" servile contribution system, this is a generalized and merely functionalist cycle that only takes into account the precision of procedural protocols and the effectiveness of its result in a tangible or intangible way but always cold. It is very difficult, almost impossible even, for the creator to sneak into any of the phases of this cycle without demeriting himself and his intentions as a creator to the background, prejudicedly cataloged as "less useful" because he does not contribute as much to the machinery. not like others.

'68 Student Movement Photograph

The creator can be part of the system without being fully included; like the electrons in the structure of the atom, but there is no guarantee that the system will look back at him, much less that it fully integrates him into its machinery, it is nothing more than a hope based on the expectation of his work. Hence, functionalism, extrapolating from architecture and design as a system of generality, has caused a necessary but banal progress, relegating the expressions of interpersonal enjoyment as a surplus that is worth taking advantage of in times of abundance or waste to appear the previous one. It should be noted that art came to be used as a tool to decorate the facade of idyllic progress in order to justify the submission of the masses under the banner of order, as can be well exemplified historically in the state urban macroprojects during the " Mexican miracle”; time of national economic abundance between the 50's and 70's due to the massive reconstruction of Europe and Asia after the Second World War, under a protectionist economic system that generated wealth for the state although it failed to distribute it, instead, it was intended to exalt the idea of progress through public works offering total creative freedom, complying with the condition that the work be of a nationalist and popular nature, that is, that it works for the state to promote; or presume, the glorified ideas of the past in order to allude to the progress of their present but, like the realistic ideas of the past, without promoting equitable progress reflected in significant social progress and individual cultural enrichment that allows the emergence, conceptualization, realization and acceptance of alternative creations to the established conditions in order to reform it. Rivera, D. (1922) Fragment of the mural La Historia de México

Therefore, in my opinion, it must have been extremely frustrating when the now catalogued intellectuals of the Mexican muralist and modern movement were desecrated, not the work itself, but its social and utopian meaning by those who provided them with the opportunities. to carry out these works, well, feeling used would fall short. Although as such said "betrayal" by the government to the social ideals that he himself tried to instill in the population, that was part of the characteristic nucleus that complemented the thoughts of these same artists in their works or in, directly, actions of " rebellion”, such was the degradation of that relationship between the state and authors in the face of the inevitable display of their façade of a “socially responsible” government that those works came to be considered, at times, as works of protest against the curiously sponsored and endorsed government. itself. The reasons and graphic examples of the “why?” of protest vary depending on the actions of the state but that collective and expected disgust has become a constant for later generations who no longer have the systematic support to develop their work to the magnitude of Siqueiros or Rivera without letting themselves be shaped by the rules and conditions of the state, which by leaving it therefore loses the reason and total relationship of the exalted artists of the 20th century. Each artist, painter, writer and architect of the time is an interrelated case, or directly related, to each other, who built a thinking social identity, alternates to the official identity established by the state that in summary the general purpose of this would be something like like "don't bother those above you and see if you learn something by the way", while the alternate identity is based on the official prefabricated one to distort it without losing the starting point until obtaining the necessary authenticity for one and adequate to distinguish oneself in a mural complex and complementary of varied ideas and thoughts interrelated with each other by the expressions of their aspirations evoking the achievable notion of a harmonious society, even bordering on the utopian, diverse and complementary to what Mexican society should be. It is under this perspective that the creator who elaborates his work vaunting the idyllic expectations of the state, this happens to stop being autonomous to be an employee, part of the functionalist machinery during the development of the expectation to portray but not to fulfill. Allowing oneself to be sponsored is a red flag that may be excusable, but in order to satisfy the interests of an intangible entity and of dubious reliability regarding the collective or minimum individual satisfaction of the author, you have been reason enough for the most radically autonomous authors to excommunicate to the creator of being considered part of the authenticity that in the end, has a greater chance of winning the popular judgment of the time.

To better exemplify this idea in synthesis and understand this set of ideals a little more, I like to relate it to the plot of "Highlander", a 1986 film about a search for immortal beings who can only recognize each other until there is last living immortal, one of a kind, alone between presence and his past. Juan O'Gorman turned out to be the last immortal, precocious genius, inciting artist and immature professional, pioneer of modern muralism in Mexico, author of the first functionalist house in Latin America, of the relevant actors in the identity of the UNAM university city, respected teacher, multidisciplinary and multifaceted artist and aspiring revolutionary in the arts to serve society, he committed suicide in 1982, long after his revolutionary colleagues and contemporary friends died, after witnessing how his works were used as propaganda ornament , as the cold functioning of the system revolves around the direct functions of the individual instead of collective aspirations, were certainly the latent blows that heralded the eventual irrelevance of the ideals of his work as just an idealized peculiarity of the past in the background . Although those crosses on his forehead were the ones that hurt the most, his cross on his chest was the withering blow after someone else's decision to demolish his most precious and particular architectural work, the Cave House. Photograph of Juan O'Gorman

The house, designed and built by O'Gorman between 1948 and 1952, was his architectural baby, not the first, but the most beloved, it was characterized by incorporating a cave of natural origin in order to be friendly to the environment. he lived in the house with his family for 16 years, but in 1969 the artist sold the property out of economic necessity with the sole condition of not destroying the house, however, the reasons why it was finally demolished in its entirety were unknown and totally unrelated him until it was too late. With his death, many consider, not only Mexican muralism officially died, but also the monumentalist, aesthetic and peaceful rebellion against the aspirations of the collective, of what should be guided and what Mexican society should be, a socially responsible and reciprocal society. each other, an aspiration expressed only, albeit now more informally, in walls painted to date.

arturo González Lara

wehc sanaugI eht woH

I Estela My mother used to say many phrases with wisdom, she maintained that we have to live life and living it with great wisdom. In a spring a damasquina bloomed, that orange color took me memories of the past, I felt alone and I did not usually express it, she opened the door of my room and asked me to cut a flower to put it on her saint, the one I prayed to her every day . I was so happy that day, leaving my zone of anguish changed something in me and the next morning I looked for another flower, the same thing the next day and so I made a custom of so many flowers that I left for their saint; I finished the roses in the garden. He took me by the shoulder and softly whispered in my ear with his soft and tender voice. Estela this land wants you to plant flowers, in it you will find the love you need. I thought she was telling me something about those things about boyfriends and I even made fun of her, I didn't understand what she was referring to, but I followed her advice to plant flowers and with that I found a beautiful passion; I started to decorate hats, clothes, arrangements and crafts. Seeing her in the temple resting under the skirts of the holy virgin, dressed in her beautiful huipil, the petals of the flowers that accompanied her body seemed to cry with the wind, my tears trickled down my cheek. He cried every day in front of an iron Christ that he had in his room, it became so frequent that he cried with me sometimes. It was a martyrdom to lose my mother, I felt unprotected and without consolation, I had been left without a family. I wonder where the soul is? These things are always hurting in the heart and nobody heals our soul. One day she came to my house and when I closed the door I saw a shadow that crossed to one side, when she turned she was standing in front of me, just as you are now looking at me at this moment. I was surprised I didn't know what to say to her then she raised her hand and said goodbye to me, without saying a word, until then I replied, take care mom, it was a very beautiful moment, I didn't feel distressed, it was as if she wanted me to understand that she was fine, she didn't need anything, no songs, no mass, no prayer, as if she told me Estela be calm. When you are very young you do not usually measure time, what will we do with the minutes we have left in this world, is what my mother used to tell me. I don't like to think about death, why think about death if we are alive, but I am aware that everything comes and as long as it comes I will live with all my might. Since that day I understood what my mother meant, I knew what I have to offer the earth. I am very grateful to the countryside, you cannot imagine the happiness that nature has given me, it gave me the opportunity to do what I love and no one can take that away from me. The years will pass, the days, hours and seconds will pass, and I will continue dedicated to what I want to do with the time I have left.

II Demetrio If I had known all the pain that would have left me to take that path, repeat my life and choose again, I would continue to choose her, I do not regret my story. They say out there that the one who succeeds usually makes others fail, that's why I didn't want to ruin the life of some stranger and stay like this - He starts laughing out loud - what a laugh it makes me remember that phrase because it's so real. I met her in Sonora in one of those casinos where people used to go dancing and I was just a beggar, a lounge photographer, I covered events, parties and the nights of drinks in that place. I was perplexed by such beauty, her daring way of dancing raised the eyes of men when her skirt was raised on the floor. At that time I was more daring and insightful, I knew well that from a distance with a few glances she flirted with me and I did not miss an opportunity, I took her out to dance, if you had seen how she smiled at me that night then we danced that melody as if was the last, we were just one on the dance floor, a unique rhythm of ours. And it didn't stop there, every casino night our bodies were flying over the dance floor until one day they fired me, all because I forgot to take photos to dance with her. Where is the photographer? Well, dancing with the beautiful lady from Red lipstick. Even if you don't believe me, I married her without knowing her name, she never wanted to tell me and I wanted her to remain a mystery, she called her heart, love, meme like memelas and she made a lot of laughs. Life is a game, you choose the role in which you want to participate. I had chosen to play at being a photographer, but at that moment I changed my character and became a dancer. The connection we had on the dance floor surpassed the chemistry of our brains, we began to live from art, we participated in shows, contests and even once we went on television there with the big stars of the DF show business, well now I understand which is called Mexico City. At school they teach you dates, data and historical figures of the country but they never teach you self-criticism, nobody teaches us to analyze ourselves to understand ourselves, to know more about our insecurities to know ourselves, it is self-criticism that makes us more human, more realistic. I had many insecurities at the time, and she saw in me someone that not even the mirrors reflected. I was always looking for security, the comfort zone as they call it, I didn't want to take risks and be someone better, I admired the works of great thinkers, but my thoughts terrified me and I didn't dare to look within myself for everything I could think, what I could do with my mind and my hands. And it was there that we began to argue during all the tours, they were fights that had no end, repetitive and increasingly violent. Silly upsets she told me things I told her things she got angry because I answered her, but I got angry because she got angry, it was as if we were not compatible. Ah, but on the dance floor we fixed our problems in every show we played, we left everything for each other and our souls reconnected. We were afraid to leave each other, I knew it but I did not dare to express it.

One day they called her from the dance academy in Puebla and she told me - let's go Demetrio, come with me to Puebla and let's form a life together in the city, I can dance and you can take photos for the company, of course while you find something better or even With what I am going to earn, he gives us so that you can only dedicate yourself to writing your book. We are filled with fear of any display of creativity, we label as mentally ill those who want to use their imagination and dream of utopias, we prefer to be like little men who inhibit their creativity distracted by the prejudices and labels that we learn from television, the neighbors and the family. She left without me it was obvious, I stayed in Sonora for a while, I thought all the time, I thought about the sofa, I thought about the bathroom, on the seat of the truck, I thought when I ate and even when I slept. I took courage to go to Puebla and reunite with my wife. But the problem, young man, how was I going to find her if I didn't know her name, in all the presentations we invented nicknames like Maria the one with the cold legs or Virginia the magnificent; I didn't know Puebla and I didn't have a lot of money but I showed up at the arts academy, I ran a lot that day because I couldn't even pay for a truck to take me and with little breath I screamed Someone knows a woman of one meter sixty-five, curly hair, brown eyes, a slightly deviated nose, crooked teeth, she leaves her unibrow even though it doesn't come out, she likes plants and cats and even if she is cold in her feelings loves people who care about her Uff how difficult it was to pronounce all those words, a very beautiful and slender lady approached me and told me. -Demetrio is it you?- she seemed happy to see me -She left a few days ago they gave her a scholarship at the ballet academy in Russia she left me this letter it is for you she knew you would come, she never stopped talking about you for a single dayWhen I received the envelope I couldn't take my eyes off it, I was eager to open it, the first words began with something like "I know I never told you my name but I am writing it to you in this letter" ten pages on each side about a story that had already come to an end. I had no money to return so I stayed in Puebla, I never expected to see her again, I never expected her to come back because I knew as well as she knew that we were only good for dancing.

Victor Rivera

Caravaggio, M. (c. 1599) Judith and Holofernes [oil on canvas]

ENGRACIA It's good that Doña Engracia died, here with the living no one remembered her anymore. And the poor thing who loved all her children so much died alone scratching for life! Only Rosa, the only girl she had, took care of her, although with much regret. His half daughter, so to speak, because they gave it to her. They say that she went to sleep with the animals on rainy days and that Doña Engracia always had bread and blankets for the girl. On days when the sun covered everything, she came out from among the nopales and began to eat the prickly pears that lashed the ground. She became so fond of her that the day her mother knocked on the door and told her to do her the favor of taking care of her, she accepted knowing that she would not come back.

Doña Engracia taught her to ride a horse like the women of those times; He taught her to dress properly and to use cutlery at the table as she had been told. In other words, he prepared her for marriage. But Rosita never married, it was for this reason that he stayed to take care of her until her last days. That is what she does not forgive, that her life has gone, her youth, taking care of the lady because, it must be said that Doña Engracia always enjoyed enviable health, which led her to live ninety-six years. Who in his place would not have had enough? But as I was saying, about Doña Engracia, whom God has in his Holy Glory. She lived on a large hacienda back in Comitán until she was twenty-four years old, and then she and her family went to Texcaltitla. They said that they had left because one of their brothers had killed a man and that, the same day it happened, their workers came to threaten them. Doña Engracia’s eyes filled with anger just remembering how she and Doña Rosario, her older sister, had their legs showered with bullets just to scare them away. The girl, who fortunately continued with the habit of sleeping among the pigs, did not hear anything, because the corral was on the other side of the ranch, but God knows how much they would have done to her. All of this Rosita owed to Doña Engracia. In Texcaltitla, his father, Don Cayetano, who had made many compadres during the years of the Revolution, managed to get one of them, Don Jorge, to sell him a smaller ranch, but it was there that he ran out of money and life. They say that in Comitán they took away his lands because he never came back for them and that he spent almost all his money looking for his son, but he never saw him again. Doña Engracia was never the same again. She was never seen crying over her brother's absence, instead she became cold and distant with everyone. He only had sweet words for Rosita, and shared the bread she ate with her. They were difficult years in which nothing was talked about. Family meals were deep silences that were only interrupted by Rosita's noises when she didn't like something, or by the occasional clearing of the throat by Don Cayetano, who no longer even touched his food.

But it was not until Doña Rosario announced her marriage to Don Gabriel, a merchant from Santiago Tulantepec, that Doña Engracia felt that her life had ended. She felt humiliated because by then her other siblings had gone to Mexico City, and the only ones left in Texcaltitla were the two of them. Worse was that, already at the age of twenty-nine, Doña Engracia was known as the town's widow, although she never married. They said that her husband had died in Comitán and that she alone took care of the girl, all to avoid embarrassment. Although that also made her very angry, because she had left behind many suitors when she lived comfortably on the ranch, but in Texcaltitla things were different, they no longer enjoyed wealth and that was why no one was interested in the second daughter. I think she was so angry with her sister because, whatever it was, she was going to get married, and Doña Engracia was going to stay there, taking care of her parents and Rosita by herself. "That's right, no," he told Doña Rosario. "If you get married, that same day I'll leave and you won't see me again." Doña Rosario did not believe him and married a few weeks later. The fact is that Doña Engracia disappeared with Rosita. For a long time no one knew where they had gone. That day Doña Rosario found Etelvina, the only girl they took from Comitán, crying in the kitchen. "Oh, girl! You are not going to believe me. The girl Engracia left with Don Jorge and Rosita. He also took the deeds of the land. From then on he spent his life here in Tulancigo, in this house. But Doña Engracia could never be happy. Don Jorge saw her face and did not stop cheating on her and spending the money on alcohol and on the women in the bar. Days went by when she didn't come back and the girl and the two boys who belonged to Don Jorge didn't eat anything either, so Doña Engracia would go out to the street all covered in shawls and dresses in case anyone recognized her and she would go out to sell the clothes she had left. from those ranch days. For a time that was enough, but when Don Jorge died a few years later, Doña Engracia sold her sister's deeds and thus was able to feed her entenados until they were old enough to work. Miguelito, the youngest, ran errands for the old ladies of the place and served as an altar boy for a few years, but then he didn't want to and who knows what else he did, because the truth is that he spent many years of his life attached to Doña Engracia until that she gave him the deeds of a house that Don Jorge had left in Acaxochitlán, after that no one remembers having seen him again. Doña Engracia always said that Miguelito was a very good boy, who did not understand why he never wanted to get married, he never met a girlfriend. If you ask me, Doña Engracia didn't want him to get married. How did I tell you? She didn't want her children to leave her alone, like everyone else. With Jorgito things were different. He was always strong-willed like his father and when he turned

seventeen he got a girl from the town pregnant and they got married right there. That day, Doña Engracia gave him the last blessing, although of course she never knew it was the last, so perhaps she would not have given it to him. But she loved him so much that she told all the comadres that Jorgito sent her money and expensive gifts from all over the world. Doña Engracia loved him more than Rosita and more than Miguelito, although she never said so, they are one of those things that is known but not said. However, it is known that Jorgito never loved her. Doña Engracia saw her sister again the day she found out that her father had died. He knew that the mass was going to be here, in Tulancingo. When they met, they greeted each other cordially, but said no more. Many years passed in the same way, seeing each other at mass. It was not until Doña Rosario's youngest daughter was born that the sisters began to see each other again. At first, Doña Engracia insisted that the meetings take place in her house, perhaps because she was very afraid of going back to Texcaltitla and being alone again, or perhaps because of the pride she had in not letting herself be defeated even by her sister. As the years passed, when Doña Rosario and Don Gabriel bought a piece of land in Santiago, it was Miguelito who offered to take Doña Engracia to her sister's house. Rosita, on the other hand, had become distant and couldn't wait to find a good man to get her out of there, just like Jorge did with the girl he took, but every time she wanted to leave the house Doña Engracia reminded her when he picked her up in the pigsty, wallowing in pig excrement and eating the prickly pears that lashed on the ground. When that was no longer enough, Doña Engracia began to invent illnesses and symptoms so that Rosita would not go out, but as she had already told her, she was always very healthy, and although she did not believe her, she stayed anyway. But there was nothing left of the loving Rosita. He could not forgive his brothers because Miguelito left home as soon as he had the deeds in his hands and Jorgito did not want to stay with a woman who was not his mother.

That was how Doña Engracia got used to it all her life. Don Jorge had died soon, her children abandoned her as soon as they saw the opportunity, and after a few years it was impossible for her to visit her sister, because they were too old. Only Rosita stayed there, but they say that for her last days she didn't take care of her either. The daughters of the gossips that Doña Engracia had said that Rosita went from bar to bar looking for companions, and that she would put a key on the lock. Miguelito only returned for his mass, but when they called him in the middle of it, he left the temple and never returned. Anyway, I tell you that Doña Engracia is better off dead, not because I like her, but because no one wanted to see her in life. However, here we are crying to his coffin as if it changed our lives that he died. The day I visited her for the last time, with your forgiveness, tears came to my eyes, also to my children, and that they didn't even know her. It was just not the same. We found her covered with a washed out sheet full of holes. His face was sucked, his little green eyes were already unrecognizable because of the cataracts. Her skin was already so cold that it seemed that she was just waiting for someone to see her in that state to finally die. When she heard my voice in the room and felt my hand on hers, she smiled with her chipped mouth, with the charm of a girl who has played all day until she is exhausted.

Carolina Gómez

Interview to

SANTA SANTA FAKE FAKE

Santa Fake is a band based in Tijuana city of electro pop fusion that mixes satire and fantasy. After almost a year without musicians and band interviews our first guest this year 2022 is the band Santa Fake, we are so excited! Karen: We’re three, we’re Waldo, who is the third member of the band is from Tijuana and we met him there. And well, Elí and I, and now also are integrated other musicians to the band, because we had a live session that we recorded but, yeah, we are growing little by little, that's how we have been able to work with other people that had been added to this. How did the idea of Santa Fake came to be? Elí: Well I met Waldo, he told me that he had some songs and well ‘cause I produce music, artist, he said “hey, produce me some songs” and well he sent them and I like them, and I told him that better create a kind of band. And don't know, like it came once we were working on the songs and Karen started with the lyrics there and then we started like “oh, yes it is curated, we have to do something like electro pop”.

Karen: Yes. like something electronic. That happened like late 2019 and then the pandemic started in 2020, we almost didn’t meet each other, we hardly practiced anything, but we had some demos, some demos that Waldo had started and well there were these demos… Elí: I believe they were started. Karen: Well had already heard them, already had made some things but nothing like, official. Now in the pandemic well it was more like a defined song, it was “Arándano”, that is part of our songs on platforms. That one we said, we have to release it, had to made it something, we had to made a videoclip that we record with the cellphones and there X, we upload it, jajaja, That's how we made it and we'll see like it a lot, from them we releases two singles which are “Bruj3s” and “ Andrómeda”, but that was latter. Where does the name come from? How did you come up with “Santa Fake”? Karen: Well it was too since the beginning, like we want to do something like pretty fantastic, like fanciful and play with fiction and watch it too from a kind of absurd perspective, incoherent, well that's how between the satire but seriously, some things are for real, but also with a lot of liberty, because be like this children and been playing with imagination too. Because we too had a lot of chatter about we all were taken off about places like residential zones and the suburbs (fraccionamiento) that show like really fake realities. For us “Santa Fake” was like the name of a false place, artificial, where you can distort things, trying to say things beyond the realist.

Elí: Yes, there in Tijuana there is a place called fraccionamiento Santa Fe and well kind of had this relate. Karen: Yes, we kind of steal its name to change it. Elí: I believe that everywhere exist a Residence Area called Santa Fe, a like [fraccionamiento fraccionado]. Remembering the photos that you upload to Instagram we can see how you speak from the satire and a totally different universe, but we can also see until a certain point a teatrical thing. How do you unify theater and music? Karen: Well now we aren’t presenting us live shows yet, it stills in video. We haven’t had our first escenic contact, so we are working and thinking of ways to generate convencions on a way similar to live games that involves the spectator and also how we can unify bridges between scenes and the music been on a gig alive. But from the digital part, that is what we have been doing this time, it's not just teather, but yes it has a lot of theatricality and this extra daily vibe, taking it towards the exaggeration, to lifting it, yes, trying to resignify some elements. Familiar elements to people that also had a double sense or subtext that allows them to interpret in different ways. You were talking about the productions you have had, first it was the music and then you wanted to make your own music video, you even say that you did it with a phone, right? Elí: Yeah, with my iPhone. And, how do you take your photos? Because you have a super important and very impressive visual identity, a super production. How do you do it? Elí: Well, it depends on what photos. Because the last ones were taken by a photographer, and then we sent them to edit as we wanted, with someone who could imitate something almost like… X-Men. Karen: We are working with a friend of ours who is very beloved and he is a photographer, his name is Anthuan Castro, he took us the last photos which are some photos that we come out with colors.

He took us that photos, and there are some that were taken during the day, which are the natural photos that we already upload and others that we will be uploading, but as Elí also commented, there where other photos that we sent with another person named Cristopher Escalante, who edit photos and has his Instagram, edits like very neon, very 3D, pretty crazy. We found him on the Internet and he had a promotion, so we asked him how much he charge us for some photos, and we managed to communicate very well with this person, we sent him the photos and explain “look, I want this photo in pink, I want it to be romantic and with butterflies, and also with a very cute feeling”, like very pretty; or “I want this photo to be more toxic, more electric”, and like this I was explaining the sensations and sent his own photos, and then he returned the photos days later and asked me “what do you think?” and it was perfect. And also, before those photos, one buddy was helping us with the music video and the photo, his name is Joselu Castañeda. Elí: We made the Andromeda music video with him, because that was the only one that we didn’t do with the iPhone Karen: Ah, that was with a drone. And also he took some photos with lights off and others with neon lights, and with his flash he shot and came out some pretty crazy and mystical photos, they are very cool. But we are always very faithful with our concepts, that they are super magical, super fantastic and heroic, as well as cringe and a little cheesy. You told us that you started recording with an IPhone, then you changed into a photographer, but I guess this is happening with your music too, you record it. Can you tell us about the process? Elí: Well… first Waldo and I sort of built a studio, he has his things to record at his house and I work doing that so I have all the possibilities for whatever we need [...]

we exchange ideas, then I take care of the final image directing and introducing details, drums, battery or whatever the rola needs. When her voice is recorded, I only direct her; when the lyrics are made I try to be involved too, to assure that it's not sweeter than the rest. Karen: Ay, yes, he tells me that I´m cursi so I have to change some things because you know, people sometimes… No it is not that it isn’t nice, just sometimes when you present them a lot of strawberries and cream, they get cloying, they say “not everything is like this, friend” and well yes. As Elí says, we had the privilege of having some equipment in house that had made easy to record [...]. In the previous interviews that we had with other bands we realized that the ways of recording change a lot. Some told us “I have my studio in house”, “I record on my computer”, others said “We record in a professional studio” What is the difference between recording in a house study and a professional one? Elí: The difference could be, maybe that in a professional studio you go inside a big room to make the room effect that you decide, from the battery. Also has a lot to do with the fact of being isolated that allows to raise the volume and the certain that will not be heard outside sounds. But in reality if you know how to record you can obtain the same or even better result, now exist a new genre called Bedroom Pop, so everyone works from their bedrooms. With the pass of time this starts to create a type of sound, a kind of sound that maybe in the future people will say, like of cult and purist of Bedroom pop “Ay, like this sounds more like nice”. You have a little room, don´t need something big, but obviously the professional recording studio gives you high quality equipment. But, at the end people don’t notice that in your record, the soul of the song speaks by itself.

I don’t know if it's too much, but Can you give us a tour around your studio? Elí: Well wacha, the truth is I'm in Mexicali and only bring the essentials to work. We aren't in Tijuana, but here I have some things… To know their recording equipment visit our YouTube channel. From where you got the inspiration for your songs? Are they stories? Are feelings? Elí: Look is only to think that we are kids, like in the elementary school and imagine. I believe that is the essential thing we do, play to be kids and from there we started to imagine without the adult prejudices. Karen: Yes, don´t thinking “this is gonna sound perfect” or “this is gonna sound virtuous”, well more like play and experiment, do voices, invent characters, move and from it rescue the things that work and say “look, this is interesting”. Also, our lyrics are charged with many stories and more metaphors than literaties, but also trying to go through a political message and play other strings of the narrative. The song “Bruj3s” were recorded with Coyo Licatzin and Ángel Peralta, just in that year we have the opportunity to collaborate with her. She had just released her video “Llueve sangre en la ciudad” that was amazing. Karen: Yes, well just when I told you that you can have a song that isn’t super recorded and is with your guitar, or with your cellphone, I was thinking in Coyo. The first version release of that song wasa video that super viralize, but because Coyo sings beautifully and composed beautifully and when we were in the rola well Elí, there in his trip of producer said that we need a dark voice to contrast with mine which is a little bit acute. So we were searching and searching. I asked a friend from Xalapa, of teather I asked if it didn't know someone to sing with some jazz or kind of soul characteristics and it told me “well this girl, Coyo Licatzin”. I wrote to her and thought “maybe she ignores us” because she has her public, but said I'm gonna

try. But from the first moment the girl was super cool, pretty nice, with a big and beautiful heart and a side super talented. She wrote part of the rola, the parts that she sings, the parts of rap (more like ritmin spoken) and there she was adding more voices. The truth is that the collaboration with her was really really nice, it was amazing. How did you work with her? Was it all virtual? Karen: Yes, so we sent the demo of the song that we have at that moment. Actually, the song didn’t have many elements, didn’t have the orchestration, didn’t have voices in certain parts, the only voice that the demo had at that moment was mine, all out of tune, and so we sent it to her. And she was super nice, she agreed super fast and said “yes, I’m in”, she said it was something different than what she usually does, but she wanted to give it a try and see what she could get out of this experience. After we sent her that demo and the lyrics, she sent us an audio where she added certain things singing on the demo that we had already sent to her. As a band, how did you do with the pandemic? Elí: It was creative, but in the workplace it was heavy because there were no events, no plays, no entertainment and many times from there it comes out for the rent. The good thing is that some production jobs came to me because it was like everyone started to explore, to create, so I got a lot of work that got out of trouble. Karen: It was a very drastic change, we were very used to have a certain way of life, everything was in person, be in rehearsals, performances, it was a time when I had more theatrical activity. [...] But it was cool, because we started to focus everything in the digital, with a little more effort. [...]

Last question. Do you have any projects for this year? Elí: We have some collaborations with a friend called FRNCE, that I produce. She is gonna be releasing her first album i believe is around January 21st [...] Like a week ago we recorded some voices for a new single that we plan to release … Control, it's named? Karen: Nooo, its name is no Control, the song is called “Collapso”. But now at this moment we are going to finish to release the other versions of the live singles from the sesion that participate of the virtual festival of Sonic Saliva and a cover of a videogame that also was part of it. Besides, when we release the complete album and be available on all platforms its gonna come a little surprise, a hidden track for you to check it and search for. We also are making a collaboration with another friend, the one that had been organizing the virtual festival he calls Sach and is also a producer in Mexicali. And with other artist, now we are strengthening tides after the festival [...] Then comes the complete album! but one thing at a time. Karen: We have had a good response with the independent media, we are super grateful. And also with you, thank you very much for inviting us because for us it is very important and very valuable that you give us these spaces to be able to speak and communicate what is our concept. Elí: Is very important that there are independent media because of the criteria of the people, it’s not a bought criterion. Karen: Yes, the one from the industry is well the hegemonic and only have a place for certain types… and us have some privileges, but also are people that are there and make music, that maybe is not in the media, but we have to search and find them because talent is there in the streets, but just this media give us the opportunity to put us in the light of other things beyond the super produced. We thank Santa Fake for this interview. To listen the full interview visit our YouTube channel or podcast on Spotify. Don’t forget to follow Santa Fake in all their social network and streaming platforms. Insta: @santafakemusic Spotify: Santa Fake

Mónica Alemán

@moonocroma

CITONPYH

Obsessive thinking takes place from an idea or problem, which starts to generate more and more questions instead of solutions, generating uncertainty. Hypnotic is the name of the project that arises from the need to externalize the mental state of the looped thoughts since as the years go by it is a more recurrent situation within daily life causing emotional wear and tear. Working in digital allows the exploration of a graphic style, providing tools that allow us to generate a reflection of our own perception of situations in the environment.

The series originated as a university project for the class of pictorial representation, it was the first time that I had worked on large-format portraits in oil; However, every time I sat down to paint, I noticed more errors, faults in the anatomy, neglect of symmetry; it was completely warped from what was once the initial idea. I worked on the piece for about two months and in the end, I couldn't be satisfied with the result. Intervening painting with digital art allowed me to redeem myself and materialize both the images and thoughts that predominate in those two months of work from selfreflection. The titles that prevail in each of the images are influenced by content that I was consuming at the time I made it, the book Arbitrary Intersections of a Stressed Mind written by Ego Rangel, and the more recent music of Little Jesus, specifically.

Todo es un mal viaje Moonocroma Óleo e intervención digital (2021)

Lo mismo toda la semana Moonocroma Oil and digital intervention (2021)

Abstraída Moonocroma Oil and digital intervention (2021)

Is it too much already? M.i. Flores Nachón

A few days ago I had a debate in which nothing was debated, because both parties were in agreement on the subject; the endless joke that art is. It seems that January in my column has become a month of reflection on the existence of art, this time the thematic heart of Catártica allows me once again to sink into the deepest constellation of my thoughts, a train of coherent inconsistencies about my choice of studies.

Orozco, G. (1993) Caja de Zapatos.

Art -with a capital letter- as a practice in which the world's thought system is embodied, has undergone a series of changes, evolutions and revolutions, succeeded precisely by changes in the weltanschauung. What is art now, in a world where NFTs are the ultimate investment? First of all, I think that art is still the artist's lie; art is a yoga mat. I like to think and understand the history of art -without capital letters- not as a straight line, because we know that developments are not linear, and quite the contrary, there will be curved, intermittent, crossed, tangled lines, multiple historical lines happening at the same time, multiple artistic productions intersecting and reproducing each other. Manzoni, P. (1961) Mierda de Artista.

Hirst, D. (1961) La imposibilidad física de la muerte en la mente de alguien vivo.

But it is also important to recognize that The History of Art -with capital letters-, has taken into account the fewest possible intersecting lines, focusing mostly on a western / westernized historical line of production. Very white, very heteronormative, very European, very Catholic. Totally hegemonic. Dictated by a group of power, the higher circle that decides and writes. The circle has marked every line, and none have been curved. Art, for a long time, went according to the aesthetic discourses linked to the notions of beauty that were imposed by the hegemony. The artistic production was related to the request of the patron, historically famous families such as the Medici, endless lists of popes, kings and high officials, who had the economic solvency and enough social power to control and manage a collective taste. The never-ending joke of art is when the roles are turned, and the artist becomes the cleverest court jester. The artist became his own dictator, and his lie became his art, with a force and control of collective taste, from a wellrehearsed and studied discourse. We have reached the point in non-linear history in which art is once again a vehicle for understanding the world. What are NFTs and their overpriced consumption, if not a mirror of society? One of my favorite anecdotes - and I call anecdotes for what the works entail, beyond the product - in the near points of the lines of art history, is the Shoe Box (1993) by Gabriel Orozco, Artist's Shit (1961) by Piero Manzoni, The physical impossibility of death in the mind of someone alive (1991) by Damien Hirst, and finally Girl with Balloon re-titled as Love is in the bin (2018) by Banksy. All the above are therefore nothing more than a deception to the hegemonic circle, which ends up consuming what the artist autoapplauds.

he Bin. e is in t v o L / n Balloo irl with G ) 8 1 0 , (2 Banksy

Beyond what can be called a master joke, flawless technique, unintelligible aesthetic, the works of art we now consume are a break up, painful and incomprehensible for some, funny and great for others. It is fun to understand how the artist's lie ends up being a masterpiece, an object of excessive consumption, with a much more expensive signature than the product itself. Art evolves and revolutionizes as life poses it, and the artist is the most intelligent to understand it, and to entangle the tips of our feet with transparent threads.

Is it too much already?

I consider that there is no limit point in art. Everything has been seen, but we still have everything to see. The joke is endless. I too applaud the producer who mocks and has fun, with the work that protests, the work that deceives, that angers, that annoys, that breaks and challenges.

Instructions for author If you are interested in participating in the magazine, you should take into account the following guidelines: All manuscripts or works must be sent to the official Catártica mail, with their corresponding translation into English or Spanish. All papers received will be submitted for review by the members of Catártica for their selection and publication. If the editor deems it pertinent, he may make changes and corrections in the writing and style of the manuscripts. The file must follow the following format: Microsoft Word Arial font Font size in twelve points The upper and lower margins should be 2.5 centimeters and the left and right must be 3 centimeters. The line spacing should be 1.5 The images and illustrations must be cited in APA format and in addition to sending them in the file, attach them in JPG, PNG or PDF format

@catarticarevista catarticarevista@outlook.com catarticarevista@gmail.com

Magazine Director María Inés Flores Nachón @notae_stethicallypleasing maines_flores@live.com

Subdirector and Cover design Antonella Guagnelli Cuspinera @antonella_gc antonella.guagnelli@gmail.com

Head Editor Fernanda Loutfe Orozco @ferorozco ferlorozco@hotmail.com

Editorial Design Junuen Caballero Soto @junuencaballero junuen.caballero@gmail.com

Social Media Antonella Guagnelli Cuspinera @antonella_gc antonella.guagnelli@gmail.com

Diana Carolina Gomez Ortiz @dcgo98 diana.gomezoz@udlap.mx

Emma Patricia Zamudio Salas @emma.zamudio.92 emma.zamudioss@udlap.mx

Artists and Writers

Antonella Guagnelli

Arturo González

Bruno Sánchez

Carolina Gómez

María Inés Flores

Mónica Alemán

Natalia Cigarroa

Rossanna Huerta

Santa Fake

Victor Rivera