This work is showing the previous emperor making a speech which stated his "feelings" about resigning from being an Emperor as he is too old now. This was a big moment that happened in August 8th, 2016. As a symbol of the state, he is not allowed to express his feelings and emotions publicly.
He always has to look either serious or smiling. But there are two ways to express his inner feelings more directly. One is by making poetry in traditional Haiku form, another way is to make a formal speech as he did on August 8th 2016, or as the previous emperor did it over radio at the end of WWII on August 15, 1945.
By constitution, the Emperor of Japan is a symbol of the State. Biologically, of course, he is a human being, yet, in the social space, his body is constrained for this big role given to him. The emperor does not have human rights, which means he has to repress his inner feelings from the public. This also tells how big their political power potentially could be.
"With an eraser, I deformed his face to disturb the sign that is fixated on it within the solid social structure."
"I think, through using the images of the emperor, this series is dealing with this tension between appearance and inner-self, formal and expressive, sacred and banal, calculated and spontaneous, symbolic and non-symbolic."