This looks better irl

Exploring cosplay cons

This Looks Better IRL – Exploring Cosplay Cons follows young people immersed in the vibrant subculture of cosplay, largely shaped by Asian media and pop culture. Full of community spirit, individuality, and personal challenges, as they prepare for and attend cosplay conventions in Western Europe.

My work examines how people navigate the balance between established cultural frameworks and personal expression as they explore their identities within broader social contexts. Cosplay, a form of performance art in which participants embody characters from comics, anime, manga, video games, and films, offers a compelling lens to investigate this interplay.

Over the past few years, I’ve attended numerous cosplay conventions and met many cosplayers whose self-made costumes range from charmingly amateur to astonishingly lifelike, each offering a personal interpretation of the characters they portray.

The cosplay community is highly diverse, united by a strong sense of mutual acceptance, including a significant proportion of neurodivergent individuals. Could there be an overlap with the social and emotional challenges that many young people face today? What deeper emotions might lie beneath their carefully crafted appearances? To explore this, I collected hundreds of screenshots from cosplayers’ social media accounts. These screenshots serve as a recurring element in the publication, offering insight into their underlying feelings.

Blending references to manga and smartphones, the book reflects the vibrant and slightly rebellious spirit of this youth culture. Beyond the impressive costumes, it reveals the cosplayers’ journeys of self-discovery and the vulnerabilities they share online, capturing a unique snapshot of a generation navigating both real and virtual worlds.