Warriors of chaos, orcs, dwarfs, gunfighters, streetwalkers, zombies, mutants, Soldiers of the Apocalypse, and vampires. Welcome to the world of Live Action Role Playing. LARP is inspired by fantasy board games, films, literature, and computer games. Not to be confused with cosplay, where it is all about to visually represent an existing character from a comic or a movie, while for a live action role play, entire fictional worlds are created and sometimes played over several days and the players create their own characters for each LARP, which have never been seen like this before. Detached from structures, rules, and conditions, they immerse themselves in whatever alien world and move within it. Some characters even accompany the players for years and thus continue to develop together. Integrating facets of their real-life personalities often plays a significant role and ensure that many characters are very authentic.

After almost four years, the photographer describes the work on this project as an “impressive journey through time and space”. The photographs give each character the appropriate space to unfold. The imagination and creativity of the players are clearly in focus, and one is invited to join an intense, fantastic, and sometimes monstrous journey.

Together with the German publisher Kehrer Verlag GmBH Heidelberg/Berlin, this work was published in 2018 in a photo book titled “LARP.” The introduction is written by English-American video game developer Richard Garriott de Cayeux, aka Lord British (Ultima, Shroud of the Avatar).

“When working in the field, photographers often try to assimilate with their surroundings, allowing subjects to be captured in their natural state. And that’s precisely what led Boris Leist to dress up as a monk, complete with fictional backstory, in a fantasy world in rural Germany […] The scene’s diversity is reflected in Leist’s striking portraits, which capture orcs, goblins, and steampunk warriors alongside more unusual characters, including a zombie Jesus, a blood-spattered Ronald McDonald, and a mutilated teddy bear. Almost 200 of his images, which were taken all around Germany, appear in the new book, “LARP”. Oscar Holland, CNN

“For four years, photographer Boris Leist accompanied players of this scene into their fantasy worlds, photographed them, and published a selection of photos in the illustrated book “LARP”. However, his works show the costumed protagonists not in role-playing, but in isolated portraits. They appear as whimsical figures of art, reminiscent of movies like “Mad Max” or video games like “Fallout”, and present their elaborate garments with a great attention to detail. The focus here is on the relationship between the decorated figure and the real person. In their interface is the longing for another time, environment and social order, the tendency to staging and the attempt to block out modern life for the moment.“ Julia Zalewski for Monopol

“LARP is creative, emotional, physical, psychological and gives the players the chance to get to know other parts of their personalities in a quite safe surrounding. Actually, LARP is not that different from our daily lives, the rules and looks are different and quite unfamiliar, but Live Action Role Play happens out there in the “real world” all the time. We act a lot every day, according to rules set by our mothers and fathers, by our teachers, by our superiors, by our friends and enemies. And in the meantime, everybody tries to be someone in life. We try to stand for something, try to be recognized, preferably as the person we are. But who am I ? Wouldn’t it be helpful to know that, to make sure you will not just be “successful “, but also happy? The question is, what percentage of our acting is mere copying and how much can be considered an expression of ourselves? I mean, You stop acting when you know yourself for sure, and many people might say that they are pretty sure who they are, but in most cases, I doubt that. I have witnessed prejudice, fast and false judgments in all kinds of situations too often. A lot of people don’t put too much energy into analyzing themselves; maybe they are scared about what to expect, or that they wonʼt succeed, or perhaps they just donʼt find a way to do it since life is not giving everybody the same opportunities, spaces, and time to figure out all the facets of their own personality. Most people prefer to follow the beliefs and actions of others and then more or less simply copy them. But even if it is not the easiest path we can walk and it ends only with our death, there is hardly anything more inspiring and fulfilling than being aware of yourself. Of course, You don’t have to become a “Larper “to get to know yourself, to understand why you are the way you are, but I find it an impressive way to do so. Without a doubt, you are also allowed just to have fun hunting zombies or represent an orc and not take this under the psychological microscope. Still, I am simply fascinated by how much passion, time, and money players invest in their hobby, not for fame and more money; on the contrary, they do it for themselves. I do like that a lot. “ Boris Kim Benjamin Leist / artist statement