Monday, November 3, 2025
THURSTAN REDDING
Cosplay: Finding Authenticity Through Costume
Thurstan Redding is a Hong Kong-born, French-raised British photographer and director based in London. He has contributed to i-D, M: Le Magazine du Monde, British Vogue, T: The New York Times Style Magazine, Arena Homme +, Document Journal, Love, The Wall Street Journal, Re-Edition, and Replica. His commercial clients include Chanel, Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Versace, Miu Miu, Paco Rabanne, Marc Jacobs, Chloé, and Burberry.
Years ago, Thurstan was longing for images that were layered with sociological meaning; the sort of images that he had not seen before. He had been searching
for a subject matter that still had space for exploration. When he came across a cosplay convention in 2017 he was transfixed…
Cosplay (noun): The activity or practice of dressing up as a character from a work of fiction (such as a comic book, video game, or television show).
It took three years to properly gain the trust of around 50 cosplayers from 50 different locations, and capture the beauty of their craftsmanship; this often comes alive in the most unassuming of places: a suburban home as they create ingenious costumes; a local bus stop as they head out in full regalia; a teenage bedroom before connecting with their wide community.
Thurstan’s project aimed to provide a never-before-seen insight into the cosplay community, which is notoriously esoteric, difficult to photograph and rarely documented outside the confines of cosplay conventions. Sometime, all it takes is to scratch the surface of our realities to reveal the fantasy beneath…
£5 on the door or zoom invite via
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