Caves of cardboard echo Jojo's memories of disaster relief boxes

ONE OUT OF THE BOX: Josephine Garcia-Jowett (Jojo) with part of her Parabox installation at Farsite. She is a qualified naval architectand has recently completed a Visual Arts degree at WelTec. Jojo jas previously exhibited her work at The Dowse, NZ Academy of Fine Arts and the World of Wearable Arts awards and museum. A programme of community events will also run alongside her new exhibition at Farsite Gallery. Visit www.hvca.org.nz for more information.

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Local artist Josephine Garcia-Jowett (Jojo) found inspiration in the humble cardboard box to create a multi-sensory installation, entitled Parabox, at Farsite Gallery in Petone.

Hundreds of shredded cardboard boxes picked up from local streets or raided from skip bins have been shredded and used to create a cave within the gallery.

The cave is filled with flickering light and whispered nature sounds filter through the fragile walls.

It's taken Jojo three weeks of tearing, stapling and hanging pieces of cardboard on a netted nylon canopy and her body is feeling the strain.

"My son said to me the other day ‘you look like a zombie'," she says.

Jojo hides a sad history behind her room-lightening smile and although the installation has been hard work it's also proved a mentally therapeutic experience.

"My artwork is like a scar, a reminder of my past.

"Although I can't change it, perhaps reworking what happened will not only give me closure but help others revisit their own experiences with fresh eyes and ears," she says.

Watching her family home burn as firefighters refused to help unless they were paid and surviving a typhoon were two extreme events in Jojo's childhood in the Philippines, which she hoped to tackle with her cardboard creation.

"While peeling cardboard boxes piece by piece, I remember seeing my parents picking up our lives every time we experienced another disaster," she says.

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 1996 with her Kiwi husband Roy (Roy was later killed in a construction accident on Taranaki Street, Wellington).

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.

Parabox is presented by Hutt Valley Community Arts and Creative Communities Hutt City.

The installation opens at the Farsite Gallery, 193 Jackson St, Petone tonight (Tuesday 9 September) at 5.30 and runs Wednesday to Sunday, 10am to 5pm until 12 October.

A programme of community events will also run alongside the exhibition.

Visit www.hvca.org.nz for more information.