I am (or not) my Prints
One rarely finds really clever lines on shirts these days, even though they’re being manufactured by the thousand by brands like “Artwork”, “Bleach”, “Diego”, etc etc. The lines you find on shirts today are usually corny, or crass. Sometimes they’re just words on cloth. Or I could be wrong, and the shirt line’s implication is far too deep, its humor escapes me.
One of my favorite shirt says: Out of order. It could mean you can’t piss here. Can’t take a dump here. Not available. Not applicable. Broken. Destroyed. Dysfunctional. Chaotic. In other words, it says there’s just something wrong with the person wearing this shirt. So it’s either you back off, or you laugh.
If you think about it, it kinda spoils the message that the shirt’s a little to snug around the curves.
It also strikes me as somewhat poserish to have to project to the world that you’re bad news. Why not let them decide? If you really are traumatic, why not have them find out and experience trauma for themselves? A little dirt is good for the immune system. If we all wore signs that told people what sort of person they were dealing with, where’s the point in engaging in conversation to know more about people? Whatever happened to good old interaction? What are we so afraid of?
Signs can be deceptive. What’s with all these labels? What’s with all this propaganda? Who’re we all fooling? When are we going to stop trying to convince everyone (including ourselves) about who we are and just be comfortable with ourselves?
When nudity becomes acceptable, that’ll be the day.
by Ara ChawdhurryÂ