“My project is not about gender. Some feel like a man trapped in a woman’s body, others like a woman trapped in a man’s body. The pandrogyne says, I just feel trapped in a body. The body is simply the suitcase that carries us around. Pandrogyny is all about the mind, consciousness.”

– Genesis Breyer P-Orridge

During their time together Genesis P-Orridge, visual artist and one of the most influential figures in underground music since the 1970s, and Lady Jaye, his closest artistic collaborator for 15 years, worked to create pandrogyne. Knowing they would not have children together, the couple’s project was an attempt to dissolve the physical boundaries between them and become the same person.

Now filmmaker Marie Losier brings us a documentary titled The Ballad of Genesis and Lady Jaye. Losier allows the audience a look into the devotion and transformation which led the two to become one. The surgical aspect to their project, including matching breast implants and nose jobs, amounted to $200,000. The two dressed in identical outfits and mimicked the other’s mannerisms. After Lady Jaye’s death in 2007, Genesis continued his project. The Brooklyn-based artist, whose archives have been acquired by the Tate Modern, has blurred the lines between life and art. His body has become his greatest artwork and ongoing performance piece.

“I know it sounds weird,” Genesis told NY Magazine in 2009, “We [he and Lady Jaye] could have bought a house or something like that. But we’re artists. Artists do art. It’s not rational.”

The Ballad of Genesis and Lady Jaye opens in NYC on March 8th 2012 in the Chelsea Cinemas.