jayroop

another long over due project that was inspired by my studies in japan, this graphic and silkscreened shirt take a pot shot at the japanese culture with which i struggled to understand.

in japan, i had many experiences in being a foreigner; sometimes positive and often negative. this shirt is an expression of the frustration associated with those times of love and hate.

the text ‘senpai desu’, roughly translated might be something like i’m your superior / elder / boss / mentor. the circular mark contains the characters which mean ‘foreigner’ split between a bisected red circle (the rising sun of japan), my expression of being in japan but being viewed as an outsider, and likewise only being able to experience japan through a superficial ‘glass wall’. the mark itself is printed on the inside of the shirt, bleeding through to the back and can be seen as wearing the ‘brand’ of a foreigner.

the shirt as a piece is my attempt at twisting the japanese social class system and language against itself, trying to insult japanese culture as a whole. it’s just a little bit of my angst, so don’t get me wrong, i love japan!

senpai = elder
ai = love
desu = to be