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Cosplay and (DID) dissociative identity disorder
by Kathryn Rizzo, CRMS Senior
Meet the Artist
Kathryn Rizzo, also known as K.Grey, is an artist and cosplayer from New Jersey. She is graduating from Colorado Rocky Mountain School, studying art, and going to Ringling College of Art and Design for fine arts. Her style has transformed through high school, and she focuses on playing around with different mediums and the beauty in imperfection. She tries to mix her love for both cosplay and traditional art. She mainly makes portrait art and paints but likes to include aspects of embroidery and sewing in her work. She’s self-taught in cosplay creation and started it in 2021 from YouTube videos and is heavily influenced by the cosplayer SerbertQuake.
Kathryn Rizzo, also known as K.Grey, is an artist and cosplayer from New Jersey. She is graduating from Colorado Rocky Mountain School, studying art, and going to Ringling College of Art and Design for fine arts. Her style has transformed through high school, and she focuses on playing around with different mediums and the beauty in imperfection. She tries to mix her love for both cosplay and traditional art. She mainly makes portrait art and paints but likes to include aspects of embroidery and sewing in her work. She’s self-taught in cosplay creation and started it in 2021 from YouTube videos and is heavily influenced by the cosplayer SerbertQuake.
Kathryn has spent her 2023 Senior Project designing and developing a print edition to raise awareness and funds for a social justice cause she cares deeply about. This Community Service Project is made possible by the 2022/2023 Arts in Society grant supporting cross sector arts projects addressing social justice.
Join us by donating today.Artist statement:
I've always had a passion for speaking about mental health issues, especially as a teenager. With that interest, I wanted to have aspects of mental health issues depicted in my artwork.
The design shown on the front of the shirt is meant to describe what it's like to share a body in a system and how it can feel to live with DID. The person in the middle is meant to depict the host body of the system. The hands pulling at the person represent all the different alters in a system. The more faded figure is meant to show the dissociation of the body. The person on the floor is meant to be the trauma holder of the system.
I wanted to mix my love and style of portrait art into the shirt and design. I had no idea what DID was for a very long time. It wasn't something I wasn't ever exposed to. I had seen an interview about it and was immediately interested after watching it.
The design shown on the front of the shirt is meant to describe what it's like to share a body in a system and how it can feel to live with DID. The person in the middle is meant to depict the host body of the system. The hands pulling at the person represent all the different alters in a system. The more faded figure is meant to show the dissociation of the body. The person on the floor is meant to be the trauma holder of the system.
I wanted to mix my love and style of portrait art into the shirt and design. I had no idea what DID was for a very long time. It wasn't something I wasn't ever exposed to. I had seen an interview about it and was immediately interested after watching it.
The back design is meant to bring fandom into DID, which is a form of comfort for those with DID. I wanted to capture the imagination of DID and how fandom is used as a safe place for people with DID or other disorders to escape their trauma and triggers. One of my biggest inspirations is a cosplayer who has DID. I remember respecting them more as a person and a cosplayer after finding this out, understanding them, and bringing attention on a large scale to what DID is. I've always had a balance of having the self-confidence to look and wear whatever I wanted, but I also feared what people thought of me. Cosplay has brought another level of confidence for those with trouble feeling like they belong. It's been hard finding my crowd in high school, and becoming a part of the cosplay community both in person and online has made me more social and confident. Show my peers my experience and others' experience with fandom to help them understand the way we experience our self-confidence. I want to celebrate cosplay and those who are vulnerable through cosplay and who use fandom to find comfort in themselves again.
I am donating the money from sales to An Infinite Mind,
an organization run by people who have DID,
and directly give back to the community.
LIMITED EDITION FOR SALE
T-SHIRTS
- Oversized hand cropped by the artist.
- Triblend crazy-soft sustainable tee
- 50% polyester from recycled plastic bottles. 25% organic cotton. 25% Tencel™ Modal.
- 4.2 ounce
ART PRINT
$15
- Editioned and signed by the artist
COSPLAY ART PIECE
Limited edition goes to CSA subscribers.
Our CSA {Community Supported Art} program is growing collection of amazing designs created and hand-printed at The Project Shop. Featured artists collaborate with Shop artists to develop, produce and deiver an outstanding print edition. Artists are taught new techniques and offered the opportunity to express their voices and stretch outside their comfort zones.
And you, dear members of our community never know what goodness you will receive to share with the world. Your support allows us to empower these young, emerging and curious artists to share their voices through tangible and quality limited edition print goods.
Our CSA {Community Supported Art} program is growing collection of amazing designs created and hand-printed at The Project Shop. Featured artists collaborate with Shop artists to develop, produce and deiver an outstanding print edition. Artists are taught new techniques and offered the opportunity to express their voices and stretch outside their comfort zones.
And you, dear members of our community never know what goodness you will receive to share with the world. Your support allows us to empower these young, emerging and curious artists to share their voices through tangible and quality limited edition print goods.