For the Nerds: The Anti-Hero

The Anti-Hero:

A protagonist who lacks traditional qualities and attributes of a hero while using unconventional means to create positive change for humanity.

Photographer Julius Garrido paired with models Issac and Candi to capture the essence of the anti-hero.

CannabisCandi

TANK GIRL

“I identify as pansexual, and I try to use my modeling as advocacy for cannabis, mental health, body positivity, as well as queer rights.”

“I shaved my head not that long ago, and that was one of the things I was most excited about: doing a photoshoot with a less feminine appearance. I think being able to dress up like Tank Girl and do this gender-bender type thing, it was a representation of what queer is. All gender roles are dead, but I just loved that we were able to bring this gender-bender mix.”

“[The Nerd Community] is a community where you feel accepted, and I’m actually really big into the EDM community, too. It’s a non-judgmental world, it’s a world that you go into and you dress how you want, you act how you like, and everyone just supports you for it. That’s what queers do; that’s what nerds do; that’s what the EDM community does, and I think it’s beautiful.”

“It felt so transformative; I felt so cool, and I totally get why people do cosplay all the time because it is empowering, and I just felt like a badass bitch.”

Arty Boy

SUICIDE SQUAD

“When it comes to conceptualism and inspiration, I’m definitely inspired by rave culture and alternative fashion. When it comes to the anti-hero, the fashion in Suicide Squad is everything to me, and Birds of Prey. All of those mixed together gave me this idea of being this messy person who happens to save lives.”

Anime fashion is definitely top-tier in my opinion; the artists that create the animated characters know what they’re doing. Anime fashion is definitely effective because they’re superheroes, so they have to have some kind of harness or something to put their weapon in, but at the same time, it looks nice; it looks good.

“I felt super powerful; the liberty spikes really are the most for me. I love a good liberty spike.”

“I enjoy Eijiro Kirishima; his superhero name is Red Riot. I would love to cosplay his outfit.

His superpower really isn’t super great, but he knows how to work with what he’s got, and that’s what I respect about him as a Character.”   

Pixel Terror

by Christopher La Fleur 

Acrylic and ink on primed canvas.

“I made ‘Pixel Terror’ for the nerds!”

“I grew up on classic cartoons and science fiction, and I wanted to tie in those reference points with the anime focus of this issue in order to tell a short story about the joys and freedom of coming out.

I created the SourCute Invasion series to make it easier to talk about the challenging parts of life. Coming out isn’t always easy, but I think we can all agree—a life in full color is what we need.”