Before relocating to Japan, I had lived in three different countries and experienced cultural shock. However, it was in Japan where I first discerned the nuanced distinction between being a "foreigner" and an "alien".
10 years and 4 more countries later, I sought to reassess this experience of alienation.
In my endeavor, I aim to illustrate the various physical, linguistic, cultural, and morphological barriers that delineate "locals" from "aliens". Utilizing my own archival photographs from Japan, I juxtapose them with Japanese culture in a somewhat ignorant, 'gaijin-like' manner. As the project unfolds, the light captured in the photographs progressively becomes palpable, mirroring my real-life experiences.
It was in Japan where I first embraced photography, and since then, I've been on a constant quest to capture light. Embracing the role of an alien allows for introspection and the opportunity to witness the emergence of new beginnings, much like witnessing the rising sun.
2021
Alien registration
Starting off with a tabula rasa, ready to face new experiences and change.
“If hidden, it’s elegant”
Suppressed emotions and behavior etiquette “freeze” interactions with aliens.
What would you like to drink?
Language barrier is the easiest to overcome but also one of the most difficult to master.
Change your way
The constraint culture of using physical barriers to deviate from natural state of things as seen in the art of bonsai.
Change your way
The constraint culture of using physical barriers to deviate from natural state of things as seen in the art of shibari.
Outsider
Things are not what they seem, and you will always assume wrong.
Closed doors
Avoiding embarrassment to save face sometimes leads to closed doors.
Warding off
Sacred ropes ward off evil spirits and separate the sacred from the profane, invisible ropes do the rest.
Blending in but standing out
You will always stand out no matter how you want to blend in.
Rising Sun
A blinds-shaped collage of the rising sun taken at Mt. Fuji as an allegory for the physical barrier that nonetheless lets the light in. (A blinds-shaped collage from Mt. Fuji as an allegory for the physical barrier that nonetheless lets the light in).