Fanboys and Fangirls

Anime/Animate

My art practice for the past decade has been concerned with the interrelationship between the local and the global: in particular how history, society, and culture determine our experience of place. The Anime/Animate project (2011) consists of a suite of 30 drawings that document the performative aspects of associated with Anime/Manga and Comic Book fandom especially Cosplay. The sources for the imagery range from photographs taken at various Anime and Comic Book conventions in Calgary and Grande Prairie.

Cosplay is an abbreviation of the term "costume play", is a type of performance art in which participants don costumes and accessories to represent a specific character or idea. Characters are often drawn from popular culture such as comic books, cartoons and films. Favourite sources include manga, anime, comic books, graphic novels, video games, and science fiction and fantasy films. Any character from the real or virtual world that lends itself to dramatic interpretation may be taken up as a subject. Cosplayers interact to create a subculture centred around role play involving a community of like-minded and supportive fans that finds itself manifested in both a local and global context.