Breyer P-Orridge

In the 1990s, Genesis Breyer P-Orridge began a collaboration with the performance artist, Lady Jaye Breyer. Inspired by the language of true love and frustrated by what they felt to be imposed limits on personal and expressive identity, Genesis and Lady Jaye applied the “cut-up” technique to their own bodies in an effort to merge their two identities, through plastic surgery, hormone therapy, cross-dressing and altered behavior, into a single, "pandrogynous" character, "BREYER P-ORRIDGE." This project focused on one central concern—deconstructing the fiction of self. They embraced a painterly, gestural approach to their own bodies, making expressive and startling use of signifiers like eyebrows, lips, and breasts, in an effort to resemble one another as much as possible. The work was an exercise in truly elective, truly creative identity, and a test of how fully two people could integrate their own lives, bodies, and consciousnesses.

One phase of this collaborative project ended, tragically, when Lady Jaye passed away in 2007. But Genesis has diligently continued to work on their shared pandrogynous mission, and in the intervening years has produced a remarkable collection of work that testifies with astounding power to h/er devotion to this radical project and to h/er late wife, and that is a powerful reminder of what real artistic commitment truly means.

Courtesy of the Artist's Site