It is a phenomenon that is increasingly in vogue among the younger generations in Italy too, and with the boom of social media and the possibility of monetising with views, there are those who try to make a profession out of it, perhaps even urged on by their parents. This is the world of ‘cosplayers’, or rather fans of dressing up as fictional characters from the so-called ‘manga’, cartoons, but also video games and Japanese comics.

The term cosplayer comes from the union of the English words ‘costume’ and ‘role-play’, ‘to play a role in a costume’.

In Nairobi, an Italian photographer, Niccolò Rastrelli, will take us through his photographic exhibition entitled ‘They don't look like me’ into the world of this singular hobby that consists in making and wearing ingenious costumes in order to impersonate famous protagonists of films, comics or video games.

Over the last ten years, this peculiar fashion of ‘dressing up as a cartoon’ has grown by leaps and bounds, becoming a veritable subculture in many countries around the world. There are in fact thousands and thousands of people, and not only the very young, who are passionate about this ‘second life’.

Rastrelli's exhibition, organised by the Italian Cultural Institute of Nairobi, is a photographic project composed of a series of portraits of cosplayers together with their families, whose intent is to reflect on the theme of individuality through the world of Cosplay, in which the young protagonists explore new identities, for fun but also to better understand themselves, abandoning for a while the social identity given by the context in which they live.

The opening of the exhibition, in the presence of the Italian photographer, will be held on Thursday 23 January from 6.30 pm to 8 pm at the Noir Gallery in Nairobi (Muthangari Drive, Westlands).

Please confirm your attendance by writing to iicnairobi@esteri.it. The exhibition will remain on display at Noir Gallery until 28 January.

(photo by Nicoò Rastrelli)