Photographer David Favrod is on a quest to find his identity
Born in Japan and raised in Switzerland, David Favrod later applied for dual nationality at the Japanese embassy, but was declined. In response, David created a project called Gaijin (“the foreigner” in Japanese), where he channels his feelings of rejection and his desire to understand his Japanese roots: “the aim of this work is to create “my own Japan”, in Switzerland, from memories of my journeys when I was small, my mother’s stories, popular and traditional culture and my grandparents war narratives.”
Japenese symbols are aplenty, from the bonsai tree, to the geisha white face and the iconic Godzilla. You can’t help but chuckle at the sumo wrestler surrounded by a ring of fire (he looks like he is enjoying it), and the man casually watching TV with a creepy Japanese mask on.