I recently sat down (virtually of course, the wonders of the internet…) with the amazingly talented Boston based illustrator  Sara Alfageeh, to talk about her project BOY/BYE, and the importance of diverse representation being natural, which you can read Here.

I also had a chance to talk to her about her art, and her love of cosplay!

Tell me a bit about yourself?

I am a twenty-one year old illustration major, born and raised in Boston. I’m a second generation Jordanian immigrant. I’m a very proud Bostonian, and I’m very unapologetic and obnoxious about that.  I’m heading in to my last year of art school, at the Lesley University, college of art and design. I am a giant loser and nerd – I like to cook. I’ve actually only been doing art for four years – this is not what I expected to be doing at all.

I'm Sara, an artist who loves narrative based work. I'm very passionate about diverse representation in media!✌️ https://t.co/n4JxHboQfm pic.twitter.com/1Bux6erZta

— Sara Alfageeh (@TheFoofinator) July 27, 2017

What did you originally intend to do then?

I thought I was going to be a history professor or something – who knows I still might be! But projects like BOY/BYE, totally unprecedented for me – in the past two years even, didn’t realise that this would be the direction I’d be heading in.

I think it’s really amazing that you are following your passion and making use of your artistic talents.

Thankfully, my parents are incredibly supportive of my passion. I did get a little pushback when I was like ‘hey! I don’t want to be a psychology major anymore, I want to go in to the arts!’ and they were like ‘What’, and I had to correct myself and say, ‘sorry I meant art professor, PROFESSOR’ stress professor! But until today, my parents are very proud of all the projects I’m doing.

But I still occasionally get asked by my dad, ‘ So when are you going for your doctorate?’, and I’m like ‘Doctorate in what? I do art!’.

He still thinks that it’s a good idea for me to get a PHD anyways.

But honestly, I actually highly appreciate the fact that their standards have not dropped at all. Their expectations are still the same, like ‘what’s your G.P.A’ ‘G.P.A doesn’t matter’, ‘Is it still 4.0?’.

What influenced you to start creating art?

I got gently bullied in to doing a portfolio by an art teacher of mine. I had taken my first ever art class alongside all of my advanced courses in my senior year, as a fun thing. And next thing I knew I was making a portfolio from scratch which is a four-month long process, working six hours a day on it. So from the get go, I wasn’t convinced in it but I did it anyway. But I realised very quickly this is something I could devote a lot of time and energy in to without getting bored, which was important to me.

I got hired as cartoonist for a website (The Tempest), and I just did cute, stupid, commentary for them, just like little comic strips. And one of them particularly took off; I did one about cultural appropriation of the bindi. Until today, I still see it stolen on Instagram, Pinterest and Facebook and all of those other websites.  After that took off and became viral, I thought, well maybe there is something here! At the time I had a very great wonderful friend, she was my boss at the time – huge shout out to Laila Alawa at the tempest! She encouraged me to take my work seriously, and if it wasn’t for those initial shoves – I wouldn’t be here. It took another woman of colour, it took another hijabi to see something in me that I wasn’t seeing, and force me to take the other step.

first illustration homework of the year all done pic.twitter.com/HHZ7Sikgxd

— Sara Alfageeh (@TheFoofinator) September 10, 2017

I see that you cosplay – when did you first start cosplaying? How did you get introduced to the cosplay world?

Me and my little nerdy circle of friends, we were all in a very small private school, and we were the only ones who were in to this stuff. We found out about a convention, and we decided to go, and it was our first ever anime convention. I was twelve when I started and I kept going back! The energy of it was wonderful; you’re in this area where people don’t care really who you are, where you come from or anything it’s just that passion everybody has for whatever they’re in to. I think being in those spaces where your passion for something is what celebrated, is a very powerful tool.

What I realised was that through cosplay, I could be the representation I wasn’t seeing.

Soon it even became part of my career; I started going back to do panels about diversity and representation through cosplay.  I started going back for artist alleys, now I sell my work there. There are people who even know me from when I was twelve years old and still see me there!

It’s something silly and goofy, yet it encourages so much love and creativity. You know it is just a bunch of nerds dressing up, but sometimes that’s all you need!

What does cosplay mean to you?

Its celebrating passion, celebrating creativity and being the representation you don’t see. Its stepping into that fiction that you absolutely love, and letting other people know that you love it, and letting that inspire other people

For me one of the main reasons I go back is because of the enthusiasm towards, particularly seeing the hijab in cosplay. The two realities of hijabi women and cosplaying in those kinds of spaces, it doesn’t connect until they see it front of them. And then suddenly it’s like ‘oh my gosh! You’re a whole well-rounded real person, and not a caricature of political stereotypes, who would have guessed!’. It’s also an example of ‘accidental activism’, it’s unintentional, I’m literally just being me and what I’m passionate about. Sometimes just seeing other people being passionate about certain things is all it takes to push them to do something too.

My Captain America cosplay has been going around lately, I'm so thankful and humbled by all the positivity! https://t.co/zU98QLsz2R pic.twitter.com/uGjyqaPcXo

— Sara Alfageeh (@TheFoofinator) July 23, 2017

It’s interesting to think that just by existing essentially, you’re an activist.

Yeah just by unapologetically, visibly being me – it’s a lot of power for one person! I had this one girl come up to me at Boston Comic con, about two years ago. She couldn’t have been more than thirteen at most, and she reminded me so much me and my friends running around at conventions. She had her little hijab on, and dressed up in a ‘made this last night’ makeshift Ms. Marvel outfit. My heart just melted!

It’s really wonderful to see that younger, newer generation come out in these spaces too, and making sure they are welcome there and making sure other people like them are there.

When I was starting, it was just me and my three friends who were with me; we weren’t seeing anybody like us out there. But the scene’s changed, and it’s really heart-warming to see that.

It’s so nice that by you being an openly hijabi cosplayer, you’re showing other girls who are interested, but are perhaps a bit hesitant, that it’s okay.

You set an example, just by simply doing it. I get contacted quite often through my Tumblr blog – one of the number one thing I get asked about cosplay, is girls asking me like ‘I’d really love, but I don’t know where to start’, or ‘I’m not comfortable being a hijabi cosplayer, I feel like I won’t fit in’. And then two months later, they say ‘Because of you I started. I went to my first convention. I went to my first cosplay meetup’.  I get so happy! This is why I keep doing, I mean its fun to be out with my friends, but really, this is why.

I've been cosplaying for almost ten years now I can't believe it. pic.twitter.com/6CP2gJd8S9

— Sara Alfageeh (@TheFoofinator) September 17, 2017

What sort of impact does wearing Hijab have on your cosplaying experience?

For me it’s a fun, creative challenge.  I’m an illustrator; it’s my job to creative problem solve, it’s something I find a lot of fun in. for me, working up to when a convention is , finding out what the best costume design and rework can be. That’s half the fun! I don’t see it as an obstacle; I definitely see it as a way to stick out from the crowd! It doesn’t work for every single character, but when you can find that perfect fit of redesigning but also keeping it recognisable, that perfect middle ground, that’s the best part.

Are there any challenges?

I can’t stress this enough; I’ve never had a negative experience while cosplaying at a convention. Ever. Not a single negative comment, not a single bad experience. What I will say though is that once my pictures start spreading online it’s a slightly different story. It’s weird, its only when my pictures go to Facebook it starts getting messy, on other social media websites less so.  People think that you’re not a real person? You may be in this picture posing, but it doesn’t click with them that this is an actual physical person. It’s interesting because I’ll be reading through these very off the mark, tasteless, islamophobia, xenophobic comments – I don’t get upset, I don’t get mad. For me, I get very agitated with the fact that it’s not me who’s seeing them. Its other girls who might have tried cosplay or thought of doing it, and might have seen those comments and gotten discouraged. That is absolutely infuriating. I don’t care if they say it to me; they can say it all night and day. But the fact that they’re posting these publicly and they’re using my photos to spread negativity, that is outrageous and I can’t stand it.

What has been your most favourite thing to cosplay?

I’m a huge captain America fan – I love Steve Rogers! Especially MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe) Steve Rogers, call me a fake fan, I like MCU Steve Rogers more. Captain America was really fun to do, I did it two years in a row. Sailor moon was also another fun one. I’d probably say when I did the x wing star fighter from star wars that was also a blast, because it was more of a crafting challenge for me. I made that whole thing from scratch. Painted the helmet, sewed together the jumpsuit, made all the parts. Ms. Marvel is fun, of course, because everyone gets excited to see you and talk to you. That one is the best because I have little girls come up to me; my favourite thing is that I have a lot of dads come to me who say ‘Oh I read this with my daughter!’, and then they want to talk to me about how much of a positive representation Ms. Marvel is for their kid – I love it!

What’s your next cosplay project?

Do you know Overwatch? I want to do a young captain Amari! She’s my home girl! That’s probably next, me and my friends are doing an Overwatch group. I had a lot of fun doing Daenerys Targaryen at Boston Comic con just a week ago. It was a blast, I had an iron throne behind me and everything! A lot of last minute crafting, and a lot of hot glue gun burns – I had to keep telling myself, fire can’t kill a dragon!

Spent Sunday at Boston Comic Con as Danaerys with @trq__ handing out snacks to artists! pic.twitter.com/dlF18vTU6i

— Sara Alfageeh (@TheFoofinator) August 14, 2017

What can we expect from you in the future?

You can definitely expect more cosplays, hopefully volume two of boy/bye – were going to do some of the other designs we were exploring, and more ambitious projects! We’re still working with MIPSTERZ to organise more events!

Find Sara on Twitter

Check out Sara’s Art