Share
Alessia Mainardi
Published: Sunday, March 27, 2011
Edited by Simona Marletti
Translated for BabelFAmily by Kristin Kamm
(…) Let's take a step back: how, when and why did you take your first steps as a cosplayer?
In November 2003 at the Lucca Comics Fair by dressing up as Captain Jack Sparrow. At the time, I had just been diagnosed with my disease, Friedreich's Ataxia, which, being in the early stages, did not yet require me to walk with a cane or be accompanied by someone, but it gave me a not-so-feminine walk like a staggering drunk. Seeing that pirate on the screen at a movie theater broke my shell of shame and my feeling of inadequacy due to my physical problems, pushing me not to take myself too seriously and to laugh at myself. So I decided to dress up like him, using one of my disadvantages to my advantage: after all, Captain Sparrow walked like me!
(…) A new book by Alessia Mainardi has recently been published that has very little to do with the world of Avelion and instead has a lot to do with the cosplay world. Alessia in Cosplayland is your autobiography “in costume”, accompanied by many colorful pictures, which you chose to publish (and I quote) “to explain to everyone how anyone can overcome their limits and reach their dreams. Because will is what makes anybody capable of achieving the impossible.” Proceeds from sales of the book will be donated to research on genetic diseases and particularly Friedreich’s Ataxia through the international project BabelFAmily. Can you tell us how the idea of the book came to be? What has been the reaction of your reading public in these first 15 days?
The idea of the autobiographical book is something that haunted me for years since, hearing the story of my life, friends and acquaintances never missed a chance to tell me “You should write a book”. But even if I invent fantastical stories pretty easily, the idea of writing about myself has never appealed to me, probably because I've always been a little afraid of coming off as some type of “pity case” or like a lot of those people who often blurt out their life in the most tearful way possible just to get on TV and get noticed. I convinced myself to write for two reasons. The first is that by basing the story on my adventures as a cosplayer, I wrote something real and heartfelt that can make you think but that leaves plenty of room for fun and smiles. The second and decisive reason was to give my stories a specific motivation, which wasn't just “to put them on display”, but to collect money for research on genetic diseases. In the first 15 days since its release, the response has been positive thanks to “hard core” friends, cosplayer and non-cosplayer alike, who support me as readers and therefore purchasers. We can certainly do much better and, as I've said many times, “You can buy the book even just to look at the photographs and amazing illustrations created by Ilaria Trombi's genius or to put under the leg of a table to steady it”. What matters is the gesture of support your purchase gives to research, not to me.
Thank you so much, Alessia, for your kindness and your willingness to talk! Hopefully we’ll see each other soon at the next fair! In the meantime, we invite you to look through the photo gallery that follows. Anyone who would like to order a copy (in Italian) of Alessia in Cosplayland can do so by sending an e-mail to ryuki@ryukicosplay.com.
| Comments |
|
