COSPLAY IN AMERICA V2
Cosplay in America V2 takes a reader on a visual journey through the culture of cosplay in the United States. Photographer Ejen Chuang spent three years visiting 20 cities to gather images for this book. Combining portraits of cosplayers taken at fandom conventions with documentary photographs of people making costumes at home and gathering at events. Along the way, cosplayers talk about their experiences in cosplay.
Cosplay is the act of dressing up as characters from a variety of sources, including books, video games and animation. Often, cosplay is done at fan conventions, events where people gather to celebrate genre entertainment. There are currently over 500 such conventions in the United States.
Featuring essays from Liz Ohanesian and Dr. Andrea Letamendi. Photographed at San Diego Comic Con, Anime Expo, New York Comic Con, Otakon, DragonCon and numerous other conventions.
288 pages / 8×10 hardcover / limited to 3,000 copies
ISBN-10: 0-9961295-0-2
ISBN-13: 978-0-9961295-0-3
$40.00 USD
No International shipment (sorry!)
From Sept. 19 – October 19, 2020, 50% of every sale benefits the Carolina Manga Library, a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization established in 2013. The Library travels to conventions, book festivals, schools, and other libraries to set up free reading rooms of graphic novels in the Southern United States.
“It’s a heartwarming peek into their world, one inhabited by people too often, and too easily, dismissed as geeks or nerds” – Wired Magazine
“It is a love letter to an unusual, geeky hobby that portrays American cosplayers, and their families and friends, posing in their finest costumes, enjoying candid moments at the conventions, and even intimate scenes creating and getting ready at home” – Forbes Magazine
“Not just the most elaborately dressed or the sexiest, what you see is a cross section of costumed America … each one is set in front of same black backdrop which lets you focus on the cosplayers and how much work they put into their costumes. Ejen’s message is clear : they’re the artist. He’s just the photographer.” - Madeline Brand Show (NPR)
“Cosplay in America is a gorgeous tribute to the people who attend anime conventions… the layout is slick and the photos are lovely. Chuang did what I hope more people will do in the future, portray cosplay as art” – Boing Boing.net
“Ejen Chuang’s photographs do what similar photo books weren’t able to do : show cosplayers as real people who like to dress up as fictitious characters. Chuang treats his subjects with respect, and honors their passion for the anime, games and manga that inspired their costumes” – About.com