Chrissy — affectionately known by the cosplay community as Chrissy Plays Dressup — has been cosplaying for over 15 years.
“I really enjoy speaking to and for and with Black voices and Black people, and my work often represents that in a very direct way,” Odums said.
“Never doubt that you will bring value to the table, whether that’s for jumping into a D&D campaign or deciding to write a script or paint something,” Cartwright said.
For over 20 years, Cartwright has continued to build new worlds, cultivate magical realms and weave fantastical tales as a Dungeon Master (DM) and player of the fantasy role-playing game Dungeon & Dragons, known as D&D.
“It’s really enjoyable watching players meet different types of cultures, myths and legends drawn from different places and that mean very, very different things,” Cartwright said. “Being a Black person in a world where prejudice doesn’t exist feels good.”
“I want to throw myself into it because it fills me with joy, and I feel that I’m good at it, and I enjoy it, so I’m just going to go for it."
Chrissy often imagines an alternate reality where these characters are all Black — where the softness and sweetness of Blackness is fully on display — for inspiration.
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“What I have discovered is this really wonderful connection to a part of me that I didn’t get to express for the longest time.”
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“It wasn’t until someone like my writing heroes Christopher Priest and Dwayne McDuffie, it wasn’t until I found out that they were Black that I realized, oh, there might be a little space for me,” Narcisse said.
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When Cartwright was young, he spent hours dreaming up vast landscapes, mythical and strange monsters and new traditions and folklore.
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“I was always interested in drawing or putting pencil, crayon, marker to blank paper,” Odums said. “I was always doodling to the point where my classmates would offer to buy it or ask me to give it to them, or make requests.”
“I think that was always the thing I loved the most when I look back at my childhood or the books and games and shows and films that I loved — it was always the worlds I was fascinated in,” Cartwright said.
Chrissy often imagines an alternate reality where these characters are all Black — where the softness and sweetness of Blackness is fully on display — for inspiration.
Black cosplayers continue to create creative spaces where Black art can flourish and be celebrated.
Narcisse strives to expose a narrative of Blackness as varied, as multicultural, and as something that can be soft, sweet and steeped in joy. frame
“It was always a part of my journey to create stuff that was of service to people,” Odums said.
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To address the racial stereotypes and colonialist supremacy that has seeped into the fantastical world of D&D, Cartwright has used the game as a vessel particularly suited for Black creativity and Black culture to flourish.
The imagination of Black creatives has created worlds in which existing, often oppressive power structures are dismantled and Black folks thrive. Black creatives have become activists through their art.
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“I want to make something that has never existed in this world before,” Chrissy said. “That is the most exciting part of cosplay for me.”
Through five-story murals, indoor installations and found-object sculptures, he continues to tell the stories of state-sanctioned, racialized violence and creative forms of Black resistance.
Today, Odums continues to use his art to be a steward of the present time, to cultivate creative spaces that offer a refuge for others to grow and create.
“When it comes to the public art in the murals, I think it is an opportunity to collaborate,” Odums said. “It's an opportunity to go into spaces, not as the voice but as the listener."
“I’ve always been a pop culture junkie when it comes to comics,” Narcisse said. “I learned to read off of comics. Most people my age, they have this arc where they read comics as a kid, then they grow up and have other interests, and they fall away from it. That part never happened for me. I was always a fan of the medium.”
