In Japanese culture and soceity the word „idol“ (jap. アイドル, aidoru) refers to young, mostly manufactured stars with a „girl/boy-next-door“-vibe, intended to be role models for the younger generation.
Idols occupy most of the Japanese media and are marketed to be highly admired for their natural, cute, fresh and pure image.
One of the biggest idol-groups of all time is undoubtedly the Tokyo-based super-group AKB48.
Consisting of several hundred girls ranging from their teens to their early twenties, spread across several sister-groups, sub-units and soloists, the AKB-family has become the most successful and Japanese music act of all time and basically the embodiment of idolism.
Founded and produced solely by Yasushi Akimoto, AKB48’s lyrics deal with the daily struggles of young girls, dealing with relatable themes such as love, friendship, beauty or adulthood. Thereby they are constantly in a juxtaposition between the purity and the oversexualization of their very own image.
制服が邪魔をする is a zine consisting of 46 watercolor-artworks produced in 2013. The postcard-sized drawings are inspired by the works of the Jpanese photographer Yuki Aoyama. They represent an artistic way to deal with the concept of Japanese idolism I focused on in my master’s thesis during that time.
In Japanese culture and soceity the word „idol“ (jap. アイドル, aidoru) refers to young, mostly manufactured stars with a „girl/boy-next-door“-vibe, intended to be role models for the younger generation.
Idols occupy most of the Japanese media and are marketed to be highly admired for their natural, cute, fresh and pure image.
One of the biggest idol-groups of all time is undoubtedly the Tokyo-based super-group AKB48.
Consisting of several hundred girls ranging from their teens to their early twenties, spread across several sister-groups, sub-units and soloists, the AKB-family has become the most successful and Japanese music act of all time and basically the embodiment of idolism.
Founded and produced solely by Yasushi Akimoto, AKB48’s lyrics deal with the daily struggles of young girls, dealing with relatable themes such as love, friendship, beauty or adulthood. Thereby they are constantly in a juxtaposition between the purity and the oversexualization of their very own image.
制服が邪魔をする is a zine consisting of 46 watercolor-artworks produced in 2013. The postcard-sized drawings are inspired by the works of the Jpanese photographer Yuki Aoyama. They represent an artistic way to deal with the concept of Japanese idolism I focused on in my master’s thesis during that time.
