David Favrod was born to a Japanese mother and a Swiss father. When he was is nappies, the family up and moved to Switzerland. Years later, Favrod tried to apply for dual citizenship, but the Japanese embassy knocked him back. Apparently they didn't think that he was Japanese enough.
So Favrod got a little peeved. And he got his camera out.
Gaijin is the photography series that came out of this experience. Meaning 'foreigner' in Japanese, the Swiss were calling him Japanese and the Japanese were calling him Swiss: he was sitting somewhere in multicultural limbo. In order to prove to himself that he was both Japanese and Swiss, he began to recreate memories from his childhood and scenes from this mother's stories. Except it's pretty hard to find sumo wrestlers, Koi, and Godzilla in his tiny hometown of Vionnaz though, so he had to get creative.
Toy planes reenact Pearl Habour, obese men in diapers become sumo wrestlers, and sellotaped cardboard boxes morph man into machine. Revenge is a dish apparently best served raw and atop vinegared rice.
More at davidfavrod.com.