Oliver Sieber, Character Thieves, 2007

The new subculture of cosplayers – Manga fans – was photographed by Oliver Sieber who documented the most ardent fans dressing up as their favourite characters in several cities of the world. It is not a coincidence that the photographer pictures the fans at their own homes or in their neighbourhoods, wishing to capture the contrast between the surrounding reality and the fiction they try to relive. Aggressive, exotic, often grotesque comic book characters captured in ordinary interiors gain a new meaning. Oliver Sieber decribes his own project: “I’m very interested in identity and a lot of my works deal with the subject of individuality and group identity. Costume play is a new and very special kind of subculture. (it refers to one of the first series of photographs by Sieber – SKINSMODSTEDS). It‘s different from other subcultures which are more a counter-culture against traditional or ordinary living; the centre of the costume play culture are characters from the pop culture, they depend on trends, current fashions, definite games, Animes and Mangas produced by a huge industry.”