Last night our friend Scarlett Rouge presented her film Magic Trauma Sprinkles as part of drag diva Vaginal Davis’s ongoing residency at PS122, “Speaking from the Diaphragm.” Scarlett is the daughter of Rick Owens’s wife Michele Lamy and has known Vag’ since she was in diapers (Davis babysat her when she was a child). According to Scarlett last night’s proceedings “were a sexy/hot looney tune. And then there was an orgy.”
We caught up with the LA-born artist as she makes her way back to Cali from a 2-year stay in Paris to hear about the night, the motif of rebirth, and… well, the orgy.
I know you were expecting Vag’ to embarrass you with diaper stories. Did it get crazy?
Teasing was at a minimum. He was a bit drunk and seemed more in shock about how pretty I turned out. Which still made me feel embarassed and and red in the face.
I know the Rick-and-Michele questions are exhausting (and, I suppose this is one of them); did he ask you all about them?
The only mention of Rick and Michele was in his introduction, I remember as a teenager I would get really pissed about always being introduced as “Michele’s daughter.” It was almost my name.
It’s probably not fair to call you precocious but I’m gonna do it anyway: I remember when you were at CalArts you stopped me to explain that my use of the word revolution was incorrect, that “revolution, by definition returns you to the same exact place.” At the time you were studying… sacred geometry, I think, and we went on to have a long talk about regeneration. “Magic Trauma Sprinkles,” seems to be expressly about regeneration and rebirth. What is it about that passage that continues to inspire/fascinate you?
Good memory…
My friend Marco and I were talking about Ouroboros–a symbol of revolution/evolution–last night because he wants to get it tattooed… It represents self reflexivity or cyclicality, especially in the sense of something constantly recreating itself the etetrnal return. It can also represent primordial unity to something existing, with no beginnig or end, with such force or qualities it cannot be extinguished.
What fascinates me… Hm…
I think it represents so much about the nature of life or consciousness. The passage into the unknown, the moment we surrender and embrace change. It gives life depth, but also reminds one that no matter is constant, so have fun don’t take the drama too seriously. Teaches us to live without fear but also to respect what is now, for no fist can grip tight enough to stop time.
It’s like that Dr. Parnassus film–the human drama loves to play the good vs. Bad game and part of the game is not thinking of it as a game. But really we live in a world of “married” opposite good and bad…birth and death… I think I’m getting on a tangent…
What are you working on now? Wait, hold on, an orgy? Like, an orgy orgy?
Well, it wasn’t quite an orgy orgy–it didn’t get orgiastic.
