T-shirt (Fob Power)

In the late 20th and early 21st centuries T-shirts are a most accessible and widely worn form of clothing. They may appear to be ordinary everyday garments, seemingly insignificant in the regions material culture. However, T- shirts and the images on them often lay claim to culture, imagination, history and places. They are an inexpensive and mass-produced form of clothing often used by artists like a canvas, to promote their causes, ideas and identities.

Significance

This T-shirt was made by artist Siliga David Setoga of POPOHARDWEAR, a clothing company based in Auckland, New Zealand. It is printed with the logo "FOB POWER, Outstanding On The Football Field, The Factory Floor And The Footpath Brawl" in the font style and colours of the Cold Power laundry detergent. Below this are the words 'Outstanding On The Football Field, The Factory Floor And The Footpath Brawl' in small white block lettering. Setoga often draws on familiar commercial symbols and slogans for inspiration. He re-works them into powerful and witty statements relating to stereotypes about Pacific Islands people in New Zealand.

Setoga has played with other historical icons, moments, and stereotypes about Pacific peoples in his long established range of t-shirts. By reworking these subjects in often humorous ways, Setoga turns them into statements of pride and identity.

Acquisition History

Setoga is of Samoan descent. His t-shirts and installation art has been exhibited widely in art galleries and museums. This t-shirt is one of several purchased from him in 2007.