Culture
The Space Between: Celebrating Black Womxn in Geekdom Photo and Video Series
Since being launched by Chaka Cumberbatch-Tinsley in 2015, #28DaysOfBlackCosplay has become a rallying cry across the globe. Black cosplayers have taken on individual and group endeavors to promote each other, creating one viral cosplay sensation after another as we flex our creative love for our fandoms in the most visually arresting and often inventive cosplay projects.
On February 1, 2019, to celebrate #28DaysOfBlackCosplay, writer/cosplayer/activist, TaLynn Kel, and multi-media producer, Kecia Y. Stovall, will release The Space Between: Celebrating Black Womxn in Geekdom. This is the first part of a multi-level, multi-media project that seeks to capture that amorphous space where Black womxn and gender non-conforming individuals embody art, beauty, frivolity, love, responsibility, independence, caring, body positivity, acceptance, politics, defiance, self-love, and visibility in geek spaces. As people who are routinely excluded from the conversation, TaLynn and Kecia sought to create something that would speak directly to that experience and create an opportunity for those in that space to visually explore what it represents for them.
Each day of February, either a photo or a short video will be released of the participants on various social media platforms. Information about the participants is below.
The project will be released on the following social media handles:
Instagram – Kecia Stovall: www.instagram.com/getkysed
Instagram – TaLynn Kel: www.instagram.com/talynnkel
Facebook – TaLynn Kel: www.facebook.com/talynnkel
Twitter – TaLynn Kel: www.twitter.com/talynnkel
Please share the photos and videos with your followers using the following hashtags to join the conversation and to support Black cosplayers.
#28DaysOfBlackCosplay
#BlackGirlGeekOut
#BreakingNormal
#CosplayAnyWay
#GeekDifferently
About the Creators:
TaLynn Kel
TaLynn Kel is a writer, cosplayer, and podcaster in Atlanta, Georgia. She writes about racism, cosplay, interracial relationships, and pop culture fandom through the lens of social justice. She conducts panels on these topics at fandom conventions both in and out of Georgia. Her cosplay and essays have been featured by NBC, Safety Pin Box, Black Girl Nerds, Fabulize Magazine, Ravishly.com, Brit & Co, Huffington Post, and Punk Black.
TaLynn has self-published two essay books, Breaking Normal: Essays about My Fat, Black, Geek Life and Still Breaking Normal: A Fat, Black, Femme, Geek Navigating an Anti-Black World, available on Amazon.
She also works with multi-media producer, Kecia Stovall, to create and produce their web series, Time Out with TaLynn Kel where she interviews Black creators about their projects and cohosts the New Wakanda podcast with Sorghum & Spear creator Dedren Sneed.
You can find TaLynn’s work on her website, Breaking Normal at www.talynnkel.com. She is also active on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube under the handle TaLynnKel.
Kecia Y. Stovall
Kecia Y. Stovall is a professional multi-media specialist living and working in the city of Atlanta. She began her career as a wedding photographer eventually garnering the coveted Best of The Knot Award, not once, but three times. In addition to The Knot, her award-winning photography has been found between the covers of such specialty publications as Bride and Bloom, and Atlanta Weddings magazines. Her corporate imagery has been published in Delta’s Sky Magazine. And recently, she’s lent her multi-media and marketing talents to Bob Johnson’s new streaming platform UMC TV under show runner Shante Paige. All efforts slated for distribution this Spring.
Kecia has taught adult coursework at Florida State University and developed Photography Curriculum for Gwinnett Counties’ Parks and Recreations. Between contracts and commitments, you can find Kecia indulging in her favorite pastimes; writing books and blogs, testing out new recipes and teaching herself how to paint.
You can find Kecia’s photography work on her Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/getkysed/.
Participants
All the participants are based in Georgia, in or near Atlanta.
Photo by Kecia Y. Stovall
