The S.W.A.G. (Secretly We Are Girls) Project

Continuing on from the initial start of this project, S.W.A.G. (Secretly We Are Girls) is a collective series of portraits, showcasing female cosplayers/crossdressers that I personally know through a community that has taken a drastic fall in terms of respect for the female gender role and identity. 

What is Cosplay? Cosplay is a term short for "costume play", and it is a type of performing arts, often a hobby where people spend much time, effort, and money to portray their favorite movie, gaming, and animated characters as realistically as possible.

Cosplayer: Yaya Han
Photo by: Anna Fischer

 

Cosplayer: Ayami
Photographer: Hexlord

 

Cosplayer: Lulu
Photographer: KUROZONE

The S.W.A.G. (Secretly We Are Girls) Project is is collaborative project between myself and other cosplayers/crossplayers/crossdressers, addressing gender role and identity issues within the cosplay community. The models in my photographs enjoy the performative act and the idea of "becoming" a different gender/character through cosplay. It is a form of acting, our ways of coping with gender roles in what is now a very gender-conforming community, and the challenges and ability to transform oneself to look like a completely person is thrilling.

Unlike studio shots from the first series of S.W.A.G., the photographs from this semester are taken on location, in a public space that fits the models' "male persona" and forces them to act out in the open where there can be witnesses.

Not only does this challenge photographer and model to create compelling images that captures the model's performative acts, but it also challenges the model to make their act realistic and believable.

While sharing some of the photographs on my Facebook page, the models and I received positive responses, feedback, and likes on our progress thus far in this project. Throwing the idea out on my page, people have agreed that sharing our ideas and back-stories of "what it is like to be a crossplayer" can be compelling. 

And so, the project right now is at the point where I am creating the demo and blue prints for a mock S.W.A.G. (Secretly We Are Girls) magazine issue with the photographs that I have made for this semester.

 

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The newly designed blog for this project can be found at swagproject.kurozone.net/wp !! Feel free to join us!
  
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Sources:

Butler, Judith. Gender Trouble. New York: Routledge, 2008. Print.

E. Ortiz. Sex Sells: How Cosplay Could Die. Nerd Caliber. Web. 28 Mar. 2012. <http://nerdcaliber.com/sex-sells-how-cosplay-could-die/>

Bridle, Susan. “Gender Outlaw: An Interview with Kate Bornstein.” Our Gender Issue. EnlightenNext Mag. Web.