Gradually, and without realising it, both I myself and my artistic expression underwent changes and it became necessary to get out of the purgatory. I began to approach the representation of my feminised masculinity. Appropriation as a means of artistic expression became a feature of many of my new works. Self-representation merged with parody and irony as catalysts and from there appeared a kind of CoverBoy, who, in images of masculinity, evinced the possibility of being female. Alongside these pieces, I began working with a variety of haberdashery materials to intervene objects, the form and materiality of which served to express the contradiction of the feminine within the masculine. From the point of view of the discourse, shame began to reveal its opposite: pride. I found the transition towards acceptance, dignity and self-liberation ever clearer. Thus, little by little, reflections on sex, gender, sexuality, identity, subjectivity and their links with historical and political processes became increasingly clearer to me. These reflections included working with language, understanding it from the point of view of its ability to create or reveal realities based on its performative action. I was increasingly interested in working on the issue of violence; and responding emphatically to the hurtful knives of homophobia with bright flowers vocalising self-esteem. I also began to review the categories in which homosexuality has historically been understood and, above all, to try to identify the powers that construct and continue to perpetuate these to this day. For example, the work with language allowed me, in the piece entitled Assessing the Damage: A True Story of Politics, Religion and Sexuality, to reveal the epistemic violence, and the colonisation of knowledge and being that materialises in the book God Forgives Homosexuals.2 And beyond that, to demonstrate the ambiguity of the Costa Rican state regarding respect for human rights. In light of the events that occur in our national reality, such as religious blocs in congress and their participation in decision-making related to policies affecting all citizens alike; marches in favour of the traditional family and, at the same time, marches such as the invisible ones and diversity, make the polarisation of our society evident. Within this context, in my personal opinion, I believe that, in Costa Rica, homosexuality, among other categories of diversity, finds itself tied up in a discursive knot in which, as a concept, it is still considered a perversion and has not managed to materialise as a judicially legitimised identity and be released from the realm of the abject. In amongst this knot, I think that art and my concerns allow me to experiment with the ambiguous as a means of expressing myself in regard to sexuality, understood as an energy of sorts that transforms the subject and that essentially has no attachment to a specific object. For example, the idea of working with the popular and vulgar expression: That meat also eats banana, in the photograph entitled The Negotiation, allowed me to present the idea that among the very powers that repress non-normative sexuality, the rationale of these subjects collapses and their bodies and desires end up participating in the acts they repress. Let us not forget that pigs are not only a representation of perverse power but, in Costa Rican slang, they also symbolise buttocks, just as bananas, in turn, represent penises. The Last Supper, which appears in the photograph, ultimately refers to an orgiastic act in which the patriarchal powers metaphorically succumb to the desire for anal sex.
2 Book published in 2012 and presented by a Christian member of congress in the Benefactors of the Nation Hall at the Costa Rican Legislative Assembly.
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