Full Frame: Lights, camera … costumes!

Full Frame features photo essays and conversations with photographers in the field.

They dress as fictional characters. They try to think like them. They even live like them. One girl was Gothic Lolita. Another took on the persona of Hatsune Miku. Welcome to a cosplay conference in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Cosplay — derived from “costume” and “play” — is a type of performance art where participants don costumes and accessories to represent a fictitous character.

For teenagers, it's a way to search for their own identity.

Cosplay began in Japan, where anime and manga (comic books) have huge followings. The cosplay market has now gone global, but many participants — or "cosplayers" as they are known — still draw inspiration from Japanese characters.

Cosplayers meet at conferences around the world and organize contests to show off their characters. This is how teenagers, hidden behind a role, pleasantly agree to be photographed.

About the photographer:

Leo Liberman was born in Venezuela and has lived and worked in Buenos Aires, Argentina since 1994. He studied cinema as well as photography and now works professionally as photojournalist. He has worked as a freelance photographer from the very beginning of his career. His work has been published in both Argentinean and international media outlets. He has also worked extensively with international nongovernmental organizations.