[PARABOX] is a multi-sensory installation from New Zealand artist Josephine Garcia-Jowett (Jojo)

Created from hundreds of shredded cardboard boxes, [PARABOX] tells the story of Jojo’s perilous life growing up in the Philippines where home and family were built on fragile, uncertain foundations. Emigration to New Zealand didn’t free her from the responsibility of caring for her family - she still sends home huge boxes stuffed full of essential supplies. In [PARABOX], these balikbayan boxes (balik=return, bayan=home) are torn to pieces, and reconstructed into a room-size cave. The cave is filled with flickering light and half-whispered memories, letting the audience reflect on the ties that bind us all to our homelands.

As a child, Jojo’s family house burnt to the ground while corrupt fire fighters looked on, and only a week later their temporary housing was destroyed by a typhoon. These extreme events form the core of [PARABOX], where Jojo wrestles the forces of fire and water into her installation. She says “While peeling cardboard boxes piece by piece, I remember seeing my parents picking up our lives every time we experienced disaster. One day I saw the picture of my life in my installation and I cried because I was not able to accomplish my dream. I promised myself that I would continue to look after my parents when they get older, but they died too soon. My artwork is like a scar, a reminder of my past.”



Parabox also plays on the Philippines tradition of Balikbayan (balik means return and bayan means home) boxes and Jojo's understanding of paradox. Balikbayan boxes are cardboard boxes stocked with essential supplies like food and clothing, which are sent to families in the Philippines from relatives who have emigrated overseas. Jojo arrived in New Zealand from the Philippines in 1990 with her Kiwi husband Roy (Roy was later killed in a construction accident on Taranaki Street, Wellington in 1991). She often struggled to send parcels to the family she left behind in the country she describes as "corrupt" without jeopardising her ability to make ends meet for her and her two children. "I was in New Zealand for a better life but it was still hard," she says.