Robert Borges · Parenthetics, 2008 Continued

About the costume:
In my blue pin striped suit and blood red button up shirt, I am the tailored embodiment of The Son. I wear this costume to indicate the formality of the role. My combat boots indicate that I am also a soldier, fighting through the challenging task of splitting and re-envisioning the blood family into a new context.

Over a two-month period after the performance of The Parenthetic View, five large white blooms were preserved. Four of these blooms refer to the four members of my blood family. The fifth bloom marks the new vision of the blood family.

A broadside of prose in the shape of an axe was printed letterpress to support this work. The prose re-envisions my blood family through the eyes of sacred text. A photograph of the performance accompanies this piece. Setting type for the broadside is an extension of the performance completed on my birthday. Touching each letter of the prose connects me to the prose with definite clarity. The broadside was completed over five weeks. The broadside is to be installed in support of the series.

The vision I gain of my blood family through this work could only be had with the support and permission of my family. This was provided by involving my family in dialogue that was necessary to make this body of work. The work is gifted back to them as a reflection on where we were as a family thirty years ago and where we now find ourselves as those years have passed.

The broader community context operates in the framework of the blood family of those who view the body of work. It is intended to reflect the vision of children in adult relationships with their siblings and parents. Parenthetics opens a dialogue about the implications of the relationships within the blood family when confronting difficulties and divorce. Parenthetics celebrates triumph over challenge. Back