Zotz, Xochiquetzal and the origin of menstruation

Abstract

The series entitled Zotz, Xochiquetzal  and the origin of menstruation began in 2015. It focuses on the representation of a pre-Hispanic myth related to the origin of menstruation. Xochiquetzal is an energy/deity of sexual pleasure, flowers, painters, art and sex workers, to whom women worshipped and made offerings in order to bring about an abortion. The myth, which explains the origin of menstruation, tells that while she was sleeping, the bat Zotz bites her vulva, and Xochiquetzal begins to bleed. Another myth tells that the bat was created by the seed that Quetzalcoatl threw on a stone after masturbating. And that flowers, mainly Cempasúchil flowers, which are used for decoration and offerings on the Day of the Dead in Mexico, were created by Mictlantecuhtli, deity/energy of death, when Zotz, the bat, took the bit he plucked from Xochiquetzal's vulva to the underworld. In my artistic practice I reclaim formal plastic elements from the Amoxtli or pre-Columbian codices, such as the use of Amate paper and bright colours. In addition, I delve into mythology and ethnographic chronicles that reflect conceptions that differ from the binary gender, as well as sexual practices that are much more open than those imposed after the evangelisation of the original peoples.