Ejen Chuang: Cosplay Culture
Ejen Chuang is a photographer born and raised in Texas and currently living in Austin. He has worked in Los Angeles as well as other cities and has been documenting the culture of cosplay for a project called Cosplay in America over the course of last 10 years. Ejen was one of 100 photographers selected for the Review Santa Fe review 2011 in New Mexico and has been featured on the Elizabeth Avedon Journal. The Cosplay in America project has been featured on Wired Magazine, Forbes Magazine and the Madeline Brand Show on NPR, as well as other media outlets.
RR: Hi Ejen, how’s it going? How is quarantine?
EC: Hey Raul, hope everything is well up in North Texas! I’m basically stuck at home but I got plenty to keep me occupied. I was never too organized to begin with so I’m using the time to re-organized and re-sleeved my film archives. Going through old 35mm negatives and creating digital proof sheets allows me a chance to rediscover some images I had forgotten about. I have a few zine ideas bubbling in my head.
RR: Let’s start by talking about your interest in photography. How did you get started?
EC: When I was a teenager, my dad gave me his old Canon AE-1 and I had somewhat of an interest in it. I didn’t join the school newspaper or anything of that sort, I just took random photos. It wasn’t until college when I took a darkroom course that I became interested in photography. The moment my image came into view in the tray of chemicals in the school’s darkroom got me hooked. An internship with a Dallas photographer led me to work in his darkroom, accompanying him on his assignments, and put in my head the desire to move to Los Angeles to pursue photography. The only reason I picked Los Angeles over New York was I knew someone in L.A. and he was cool enough to let me crash for a few months.
RR: Your work, Cosplay in America, is a fantastic and large documentary project over this culture. How long did it take to complete or is it still ongoing?
EC: Cosplay in America has morphed along the way. It started out as a documentary project and somehow through social media turned into a Humans of New York-styled entity where I scour Instagram for cosplayers, approach them for an interview and posting their story on my social media.
The project has been on-going since 2008. I was to release a new book this year where I revisit the cosplayers from the first book and capture their portrait again ten years later but a host of problems occurred so I shelved it. I’m currently looking to explore the smaller communities within the culture of cosplay.
So to answer your question, yes it is on going, it is just moving slowly.
RR: You covered a lot of behind the scenes and some real aspects about the community of Cosplay. Like you said, even sharing stories online with Cosplay in America. What were some of things you gathered from the interest in this culture?
EC: Cosplay is what you make it to be. If you prefer to purchase a cosplay from a website, and go partying at a convention for a weekend, you can do it. If you want to spend 6 months crafting your creation and travel the country entering cosplay contests, you can do it. There are many roads to embark on. At the end of the day, for many it is a stress reliever, an escape from the mundane life though escapism.
Cosplay is especially transformative for the younger generation, because your formality years are spent trying on different identities. Cosplay has become somewhat of a safe space to explore one’s identity. I know as a teen, I swung from gothic/emo to “normal” and other points as I tried different personas and for this generation, especially those into “nerd” or gaming, this is a method of changing and trying on different personas.
At the end of the day, it is discovering what it is about cosplay that appeals to you and how you chose to engage with the community. It should be about enjoying yourself because if it isn’t fun, why are you putting so much effort into this hobby?
RR: Have you personally taken up cosplay? What is something you’ve learned from it if you have?
EC: I have in the beginning but I found it a bit troublesome when I’m photographing and people come up and want a photo with me. I have plans for another costume but we’ll see if I get around to it.
My first costume was actually my Halloween costume - Marty McFly from Back to the Future. The jean jacket, walkman, and shirt were found at a local GoodWill while the orange vest came from Old Navy. I attended Long Beach Comic Con and I had forgotten I was in costume when someone came up to interact with me as the character. I got confused thinking that he thought I was someone else at first !
I admit, I was a bit of a snob when it came to photography equipment before cosplay photography. I work in the photo industry where the Swedish Profoto brand was king and everything had to be top quality. Of course, that was the fashion / advertising world in Los Angeles but when I attended conventions, I saw people using DIY techniques and no-brand equipment. They were making it work on their own terms.
RR: Another BIG aspect you’ve documented, are the conventions. These large gatherings, which I'm sure will be truly missed as a result of our new normal.
EC: Today’s youth meet and converse online but it is really at conventions across the country that they make that “real world” connection. With around 1,200 and more conventions by my guess in the United States, convention becomes the social hub of many participants.
With what’s going on in the country, a host of virtual conventions have sprung up. Some run by larger corporate entities like Wizard World, others run by groups of fans. The online substitution works in some ways but it can’t duplicate the real life experience of hanging out with your friends and doing shenanigans. I doubt we will be returning to conventions for this year.
RR: How do you think this work has developed over the years? Has it informed any other work you have?
EC: Honesty, the community is constantly influx. People come in and leave after a few years. Some stick around but for others life beckons. Some switch jobs, others get married, few buy homes and babies start showing up. The change now is some people are staying in this community longer. I see more families at conventions than ten years ago. It is no longer frowned upon to be into comics and anime at a later age.
While I have ideas of dissecting deeper within the cosplay culture, the recent rediscovery of my film archives have inspired me to work on a project about the drum & bass scene in Los Angeles. Originally I was gonna make a zine but now I’m thinking of interviewing those within the scene at that time and making a small softcover book.
RR: Can you talk about making the book, Cosplay in America? How long did it take you to design, edit and finalize the hefty publication? Did you work alone or with a designer and or publisher?
EC: The first book took about 7 months of shooting and maybe 6 months of editing. I had great help by Kyle Johnson, a designer and fellow anime fanatic. I found a printer through a co-worker, open up two credit cards and ran a pretty terrifying sum of money through them. I didn’t have a publisher but like a rock band going on gigs to different towns, I rented an artist alley table at a number of conventions in different towns across the country and after three years, paid off my debt and sold out of books.
I did have a book distributor and after our contract was done, found another distributor. Though I found it was simpler and more time consuming for me to travel to sell the book. People like to meet the creator and love to hear a good story.
The second book was Kickstarted but as with any project, you tend to overrun the budget so I used more credit cards. Visiting some 20 cities over three years, the second book was a beast to edit and while I am proud of it, I wish I did some things differently. I switched graphic designer to Juan Luis Garcia and again I spent five years promoting the book, truth be told, I’m still promoting! Long story short, making books is much easier than promoting and selling books!
RR: It isn’t lucrative. But fulfilling, quite so. Well I hope you are staying sane during these times. Where can we purchase your books and such?
EC: Believe me, Cosplay in America was my saving grace. While I was shooting corporate gigs and assisting photographers on their jobs, I always knew I had a little personal project to keep me going. I believe all photographers should have personal projects, maybe a few so they can rotate. The books are available at CosplayinAmerica.com, Amazon, independent bookstores and local comic book shops.
RR: Thanks Ejen!
EC: Appreciate it, man!