Date of Submission

Spring 2016

Academic Programs and Concentrations

Studio Arts

Project Advisor 1

Dave McKenzie

Abstract/Artist's Statement

José Chardiet

April 2016

C Reverse for Care is organized in a five part care cycle: Wash, Rinse, Spin, Dry, and Wear. The piece is a study in reversibility. It is an effort to learn, to understand what it means to care, and an effort to try to achieve reciprocal balance in any relationship, whether it is with a family member, a partner, or a friend.

The staging is designed for circular movement, suggesting a cycle that is repeated after completion. The spacial structure of the piece is based on the shape of the white ginger lily, the national flower of Cuba, where my father was born. The flower is nicknamed mariposa, because it has four petals which resemble butterfly wings. The symmetry of these petals also informed the design of the clothing in the piece, most apparent in the shirt that moves through the entire cycle. Within the rigid format where spacial structure, clothing, duration, and general action are controlled, the individual attitudes and expressions of the performers were their own.

Twelve of the garments share a quality of upside-down reversibility, such that they can be worn in two directions and have no assigned top or bottom. The option of reversibility reflects an openness that I hope to achieve, a willingness to look at a situation from both sides, as well as an effort to find a balance between conflicting aspects of oneself as a response to feeling pulled in two directions. The overall focus was the balance of care, between caring and not caring what people think, and between caring for someone and being cared for.

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