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VREEMDELING COLLECTIONS
Vreemdeling is a fashion project that started in 2017 and I worked on annually from 2020 onwards.
The fashion collections are a dedication to spreading my Vreemdelingen (alien) document of the Netherlands and my uneasy position between Japan and the Netherlands.
I would keep spreading the altered version of this document via silkscreened clothing and later via the use of CNC-processed metal. The document would be spread out in the Netherlands, Belgium, Italy, Japan and the US.
The project began as an act of mocking my alien status and the lawful and social discrimination that came with it. Now, the garments are functioning as a mark of existing and being connected with where and whomever. The spreading of the garments is a resistance to the incapability of the alien status and it contrasts with the social and legal expectations of what the alien document stands for.
Most importantly, people wear the clothing (for various reasons) and the collections allow me to be in touch with people and physically and emotionally live by them, unlike my alien document.
The Vreemdelingen (Alien) Document
Even though I was born in the Netherlands and lived there until my 20's I was considered an outsider by law. Through a project I was working on when I was 16, I got to know that I did not own a Dutch ID. The plastic card I always carried around thinking it was an ID, turned out to be a 'vreemdelingen' document (alien document).
It was an object far from an ID and filled with limitations. It was a document that had to be carried mandatory (which I understand) to be able to identify me at all times but lacked the legal backing to permit me to do the paperwork smoothly at the municipality and in other instances (for instance moving my registration and opening a bank account), go clubbing, go to the casino and buy weed at a legal store. The document is the substitute for an ID card and the only fast way to show you live in the Netherlands/Europe and yet it does not have your social security number (the most important number for legal tasks) on it, which makes it not usable in many cases. When I moved to Belgium, having the strongest (in legal terms) alien document one could have, did not mean a thing. It did not matter that I had been living in the neighbouring European country my entire life. They categorised me as a 'derde lander' (third lander). In Belgium, I had to undergo the same procedure (medical examination, interviews, etc.) as someone who came from outside of the EU. It took 2 years and many faulty accusations and fines to get my papers right.
I always have wondered why this document is so important yet so unusable.
MY DEAREST OVER THE COURSE OF 7 YEARS
YS X SHINOMATSUURA 2023
LAST CALL 2023
