Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz and the Viceroy Lysi
by Lula Curioca

The 17th century nun Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz was a forerunner of feminism in Mexico. She dedicated herself to religious life not by divine vocation, but to cover her intellectual need for knowledge. When Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz met the Spanish vicereine of Mexico María Luisa Manrique de Lara y Gonzaga - or Lysi, as she called her - they fell in love. Their mutual devotion was embodied in Mexican literature; intermingling in the texts the life of the convent, palace festivities and the development of a literary work of inescapable historical importance in Hispanic and world literature. (Mexico City)

Artist Statement
Sticking your nose into a convent in Mexico during the Baroque period of the 17th century. There, a Mexican nun and a Spanish viceroy are falling in love. Women from two different worlds come together and break with the established. Convent and palace. Religion and eroticism. A love that smells of velvet curtains, incense at mass, nervous sweat, stone-walled cells, piles of books, dust, heavy makeup, dripping candles, brocade dresses, and bodily sexual tension. An addictively human smell from another era.

Watch Lula Curioca talk about Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz and the Viceroy Lysi