Part 1/2
“My family was always running between credits and payment obligations. My father was a tractor driver and my mother had three jobs at the same time. We were extremely poor. We lived in Siberia, in a small town of 20,000 inhabitants. For a long time Siberia has been a place of katorga [prison], and this prison culture has been preserved. It was impossible, for example, to talk about sexuality with your parents or for girls to talk about their periods. And if you are gay there, you are literally considered inferior. It was something unacceptable. There was no tolerance. And I grew up in the middle of that culture, in total solitude.
I always felt that I was different. Since my first memory at the age of 4, I remember that I wanted to sew dresses, dance and sing. And not fight and play war games. Everything about me was different: my voice, my behaviour, my clothes. Everything. The neighbours asked questions and often complained. And my parents were victims of this social pressure. They always asked me: “Why can’t you be like the others?” My mother didn’t receive any love as a child. So she looked for it in people around her. It was like an addiction. My father didn’t know what to do with this strange child. So he’d just beat me up.
And I started to understand that everyone wanted me to be as ordinary, as grey as possible. But how can you be like other people if you aren’t like other people? Some people try, but I couldn’t. I have lived my whole life against this way of being normal, of being grey. Throughout my life, I have claimed my right to my own way of being. And this little town couldn’t stand my brightness! At 16 I told my mum I was gay. For 5 months she didn’t speak to me and only cried. At that time there was little information about gender. It was only later, when the term non-binary came up, that I thought: this is what I am!
At school, it was violence on a daily basis. When I was 10 years old, the school organised a talent contest. I dressed up as Alla Pugacheva, the very popular Soviet singer. And I won the first prize! Afterwards, I went to the boys’ toilet and something happened there that I will never forget. A group of boys followed me and they brutally removed my trousers to see if I was really a boy. Then they peed on me. After that, they continued to harass me almost every day. They insulted me, spat on me, hit me and sometimes chased me around the city. It was really a war.
When I told my parents about it, they said, “Just use a piece of fence to defend yourself!” Then one day it went too far. They surrounded me and beat me so badly that I was hospitalised. I was immobilised for several weeks and continued to limp for several months. When my mother brought me home from the hospital, immobilised, my father said I had made it all up. It was like the last drop and he kicked me out of the house. I went to my grandmother’s and never saw him again. Over there, people have children to get free labour. That is their reason for their existence. If you can’t help, then you are useless.
My passion was dancing, ever since I was little. At dance school, I had no problems with bullying. It was my escape from my daily life. But because of this injury, I could no longer dance. So I started studying hairdressing. When my mother found out about my choice, she told me she was going to hang me with her braid because it was so shameful for a man to be a hairdresser. But I didn’t change my mind. I was very good at it and soon won the Golden Scissors competition in all of Siberia. It was the first time in the history of my school that one of its students won this prize.
After that I moved to the big city of Siberia. I was 16 years old and studied hairdressing at a higher level. This was the beginning of normal life. I was able to see a psychologist, there was an underground gay club and an LGBTQ association. The community was beginning to emancipate itself. But there was still a lot of violence against us. I was the victim of many attacks. One day I was walking with two friends. A car stopped and four guys with knives came running towards us. Fortunately, a police car appeared and they had to run away. Half of my Siberian friends were killed like that. Sometimes I wonder how I managed to survive…”
(translated partly from Russain)
Part 2/2
“As a result of all this violence, I developed post-traumatic symptoms. I reacted to sudden sounds, I had panic attacks. Sometimes I had the feeling that someone was chasing me and I was always ready to react. It was also impossible for me to make love or trust anyone. All of this was hampering me from living. When I was 19 I moved to Moscow to work in a hair salon. It was better but I was still not safe. Once, in the metro, two guys ripped out my earrings. My ears were bleeding everywhere, I was terrified. After that, I never took public transport again.
In Moscow, there were often competitions in the salons to show one’s art, and I won many of them. Thanks to this, I got a job as an assistant to the art director in the most famous salon in Moscow. This salon worked for famous people and for several TV shows. And after some time I got my own TV show for the TNT channel. I presented a makeover show: how to do make-up, hair, clothes, etc. And the participants of reality shows, series and other productions of this channel came to get a makeover in my show, and sometimes I intervened in theirs.
My show had up to 5 million viewers with online streaming! There were many insulting comments and threats on the videos. I had to change my address several times because I noticed that guys from Chechnya were following me. But despite that, the show was doing very well. I think it’s because the atypical, the original, is important for everyone, it attracts. But I didn’t experience all that as a success. The only thing that really inspired me were letters I received from people of the LGBTQ community who lived in small villages. They thank me for showing myself as I am because they felt empowered.
In 2013, the law against gay propaganda was passed in parliament. The TV editors first tried to replace me with other people. But it didn’t work, the others didn’t bring in enough viewers. Once they put in a Di Caprio type boy and there were a lot of comments like “You have to bring our tranny back! She was very nice!” Then the station boss asked me to change everything: my voice, my hair, my clothes. For me this was unacceptable, so he ended up expelling me and putting me on a blacklist. At 26, I was persona non grata in the whole TV industry.
I wasn’t even being paid for this show. I was young and stupid and hadn’t done a contract. I was able to feed myself by working in salons as a hairdresser or with special clients who brought me to Milan or Paris. I also won a European beauty championship in 2014. I worked with the theatre for big productions, and for Russian celebrities, singers, actresses, etc. I have organised immersive dance, music and opera performances in Moscow. I don’t know if I was happy. My life was only work. I had some friends, yes. But a companion? None! Only work.
In March 2022, I finally decided to leave Russia because I wanted to survive. Since this law, the state organises a persecution of LGBTQ people. Everything you do and say there can have an impact on you and your loved ones. It became impossible now for me to work, to get married, to have a family in Russia. I didn’t have the strength to fight anymore. I had no choice but to run away. I was either going to end up in prison, or simply killed. Here I can go to the shop or take the public transport without worrying. Yes, people look at me, but they don’t insult me, they don’t spit at me and they don’t try to kill me.
I applied for asylum to live in Switzerland. I first lived for three months in the centre for asylum seekers in Boudry. You spend your time waiting and nobody explains anything to you. It’s almost like a prison. It was terrible. And I was not safe at all. Luckily I was able to move. And recently I had the final interview to see if I can stay. I know that my international experience will be useful for this country. And all my art projects have the same message: we all have the right to love, and to flourish, whoever we are. And if my work and my story can help at least one person, then my mission is accomplished.”
(translated partly from Russian)
Part 1/2
“My family was always running between credits and payment obligations. My father was a tractor driver and my mother had three jobs at the same time. We were extremely poor. We lived in Siberia, in a small town of 20,000 inhabitants. For a long time Siberia has been a place of katorga [prison], and this prison culture has been preserved. It was impossible, for example, to talk about sexuality with your parents or for girls to talk about their periods. And if you are gay there, you are literally considered inferior. It was something unacceptable. There was no tolerance. And I grew up in the middle of that culture, in total solitude.
I always felt that I was different. Since my first memory at the age of 4, I remember that I wanted to sew dresses, dance and sing. And not fight and play war games. Everything about me was different: my voice, my behaviour, my clothes. Everything. The neighbours asked questions and often complained. And my parents were victims of this social pressure. They always asked me: “Why can’t you be like the others?” My mother didn’t receive any love as a child. So she looked for it in people around her. It was like an addiction. My father didn’t know what to do with this strange child. So he’d just beat me up.
And I started to understand that everyone wanted me to be as ordinary, as grey as possible. But how can you be like other people if you aren’t like other people? Some people try, but I couldn’t. I have lived my whole life against this way of being normal, of being grey. Throughout my life, I have claimed my right to my own way of being. And this little town couldn’t stand my brightness! At 16 I told my mum I was gay. For 5 months she didn’t speak to me and only cried. At that time there was little information about gender. It was only later, when the term non-binary came up, that I thought: this is what I am!
At school, it was violence on a daily basis. When I was 10 years old, the school organised a talent contest. I dressed up as Alla Pugacheva, the very popular Soviet singer. And I won the first prize! Afterwards, I went to the boys’ toilet and something happened there that I will never forget. A group of boys followed me and they brutally removed my trousers to see if I was really a boy. Then they peed on me. After that, they continued to harass me almost every day. They insulted me, spat on me, hit me and sometimes chased me around the city. It was really a war.
When I told my parents about it, they said, “Just use a piece of fence to defend yourself!” Then one day it went too far. They surrounded me and beat me so badly that I was hospitalised. I was immobilised for several weeks and continued to limp for several months. When my mother brought me home from the hospital, immobilised, my father said I had made it all up. It was like the last drop and he kicked me out of the house. I went to my grandmother’s and never saw him again. Over there, people have children to get free labour. That is their reason for their existence. If you can’t help, then you are useless.
My passion was dancing, ever since I was little. At dance school, I had no problems with bullying. It was my escape from my daily life. But because of this injury, I could no longer dance. So I started studying hairdressing. When my mother found out about my choice, she told me she was going to hang me with her braid because it was so shameful for a man to be a hairdresser. But I didn’t change my mind. I was very good at it and soon won the Golden Scissors competition in all of Siberia. It was the first time in the history of my school that one of its students won this prize.
After that I moved to the big city of Siberia. I was 16 years old and studied hairdressing at a higher level. This was the beginning of normal life. I was able to see a psychologist, there was an underground gay club and an LGBTQ association. The community was beginning to emancipate itself. But there was still a lot of violence against us. I was the victim of many attacks. One day I was walking with two friends. A car stopped and four guys with knives came running towards us. Fortunately, a police car appeared and they had to run away. Half of my Siberian friends were killed like that. Sometimes I wonder how I managed to survive…”
(translated partly from Russain)
Part 2/2
“As a result of all this violence, I developed post-traumatic symptoms. I reacted to sudden sounds, I had panic attacks. Sometimes I had the feeling that someone was chasing me and I was always ready to react. It was also impossible for me to make love or trust anyone. All of this was hampering me from living. When I was 19 I moved to Moscow to work in a hair salon. It was better but I was still not safe. Once, in the metro, two guys ripped out my earrings. My ears were bleeding everywhere, I was terrified. After that, I never took public transport again.
In Moscow, there were often competitions in the salons to show one’s art, and I won many of them. Thanks to this, I got a job as an assistant to the art director in the most famous salon in Moscow. This salon worked for famous people and for several TV shows. And after some time I got my own TV show for the TNT channel. I presented a makeover show: how to do make-up, hair, clothes, etc. And the participants of reality shows, series and other productions of this channel came to get a makeover in my show, and sometimes I intervened in theirs.
My show had up to 5 million viewers with online streaming! There were many insulting comments and threats on the videos. I had to change my address several times because I noticed that guys from Chechnya were following me. But despite that, the show was doing very well. I think it’s because the atypical, the original, is important for everyone, it attracts. But I didn’t experience all that as a success. The only thing that really inspired me were letters I received from people of the LGBTQ community who lived in small villages. They thank me for showing myself as I am because they felt empowered.
In 2013, the law against gay propaganda was passed in parliament. The TV editors first tried to replace me with other people. But it didn’t work, the others didn’t bring in enough viewers. Once they put in a Di Caprio type boy and there were a lot of comments like “You have to bring our tranny back! She was very nice!” Then the station boss asked me to change everything: my voice, my hair, my clothes. For me this was unacceptable, so he ended up expelling me and putting me on a blacklist. At 26, I was persona non grata in the whole TV industry.
I wasn’t even being paid for this show. I was young and stupid and hadn’t done a contract. I was able to feed myself by working in salons as a hairdresser or with special clients who brought me to Milan or Paris. I also won a European beauty championship in 2014. I worked with the theatre for big productions, and for Russian celebrities, singers, actresses, etc. I have organised immersive dance, music and opera performances in Moscow. I don’t know if I was happy. My life was only work. I had some friends, yes. But a companion? None! Only work.
In March 2022, I finally decided to leave Russia because I wanted to survive. Since this law, the state organises a persecution of LGBTQ people. Everything you do and say there can have an impact on you and your loved ones. It became impossible now for me to work, to get married, to have a family in Russia. I didn’t have the strength to fight anymore. I had no choice but to run away. I was either going to end up in prison, or simply killed. Here I can go to the shop or take the public transport without worrying. Yes, people look at me, but they don’t insult me, they don’t spit at me and they don’t try to kill me.
I applied for asylum to live in Switzerland. I first lived for three months in the centre for asylum seekers in Boudry. You spend your time waiting and nobody explains anything to you. It’s almost like a prison. It was terrible. And I was not safe at all. Luckily I was able to move. And recently I had the final interview to see if I can stay. I know that my international experience will be useful for this country. And all my art projects have the same message: we all have the right to love, and to flourish, whoever we are. And if my work and my story can help at least one person, then my mission is accomplished.”
(translated partly from Russian)
Part 1/2
“My family was always running between credits and payment obligations. My father was a tractor driver and my mother had three jobs at the same time. We were extremely poor. We lived in Siberia, in a small town of 20,000 inhabitants. For a long time Siberia has been a place of katorga [prison], and this prison culture has been preserved. It was impossible, for example, to talk about sexuality with your parents or for girls to talk about their periods. And if you are gay there, you are literally considered inferior. It was something unacceptable. There was no tolerance. And I grew up in the middle of that culture, in total solitude.
I always felt that I was different. Since my first memory at the age of 4, I remember that I wanted to sew dresses, dance and sing. And not fight and play war games. Everything about me was different: my voice, my behaviour, my clothes. Everything. The neighbours asked questions and often complained. And my parents were victims of this social pressure. They always asked me: “Why can’t you be like the others?” My mother didn’t receive any love as a child. So she looked for it in people around her. It was like an addiction. My father didn’t know what to do with this strange child. So he’d just beat me up.
And I started to understand that everyone wanted me to be as ordinary, as grey as possible. But how can you be like other people if you aren’t like other people? Some people try, but I couldn’t. I have lived my whole life against this way of being normal, of being grey. Throughout my life, I have claimed my right to my own way of being. And this little town couldn’t stand my brightness! At 16 I told my mum I was gay. For 5 months she didn’t speak to me and only cried. At that time there was little information about gender. It was only later, when the term non-binary came up, that I thought: this is what I am!
At school, it was violence on a daily basis. When I was 10 years old, the school organised a talent contest. I dressed up as Alla Pugacheva, the very popular Soviet singer. And I won the first prize! Afterwards, I went to the boys’ toilet and something happened there that I will never forget. A group of boys followed me and they brutally removed my trousers to see if I was really a boy. Then they peed on me. After that, they continued to harass me almost every day. They insulted me, spat on me, hit me and sometimes chased me around the city. It was really a war.
When I told my parents about it, they said, “Just use a piece of fence to defend yourself!” Then one day it went too far. They surrounded me and beat me so badly that I was hospitalised. I was immobilised for several weeks and continued to limp for several months. When my mother brought me home from the hospital, immobilised, my father said I had made it all up. It was like the last drop and he kicked me out of the house. I went to my grandmother’s and never saw him again. Over there, people have children to get free labour. That is their reason for their existence. If you can’t help, then you are useless.
My passion was dancing, ever since I was little. At dance school, I had no problems with bullying. It was my escape from my daily life. But because of this injury, I could no longer dance. So I started studying hairdressing. When my mother found out about my choice, she told me she was going to hang me with her braid because it was so shameful for a man to be a hairdresser. But I didn’t change my mind. I was very good at it and soon won the Golden Scissors competition in all of Siberia. It was the first time in the history of my school that one of its students won this prize.
After that I moved to the big city of Siberia. I was 16 years old and studied hairdressing at a higher level. This was the beginning of normal life. I was able to see a psychologist, there was an underground gay club and an LGBTQ association. The community was beginning to emancipate itself. But there was still a lot of violence against us. I was the victim of many attacks. One day I was walking with two friends. A car stopped and four guys with knives came running towards us. Fortunately, a police car appeared and they had to run away. Half of my Siberian friends were killed like that. Sometimes I wonder how I managed to survive…”
(translated partly from Russain)
Part 2/2
“As a result of all this violence, I developed post-traumatic symptoms. I reacted to sudden sounds, I had panic attacks. Sometimes I had the feeling that someone was chasing me and I was always ready to react. It was also impossible for me to make love or trust anyone. All of this was hampering me from living. When I was 19 I moved to Moscow to work in a hair salon. It was better but I was still not safe. Once, in the metro, two guys ripped out my earrings. My ears were bleeding everywhere, I was terrified. After that, I never took public transport again.
In Moscow, there were often competitions in the salons to show one’s art, and I won many of them. Thanks to this, I got a job as an assistant to the art director in the most famous salon in Moscow. This salon worked for famous people and for several TV shows. And after some time I got my own TV show for the TNT channel. I presented a makeover show: how to do make-up, hair, clothes, etc. And the participants of reality shows, series and other productions of this channel came to get a makeover in my show, and sometimes I intervened in theirs.
My show had up to 5 million viewers with online streaming! There were many insulting comments and threats on the videos. I had to change my address several times because I noticed that guys from Chechnya were following me. But despite that, the show was doing very well. I think it’s because the atypical, the original, is important for everyone, it attracts. But I didn’t experience all that as a success. The only thing that really inspired me were letters I received from people of the LGBTQ community who lived in small villages. They thank me for showing myself as I am because they felt empowered.
In 2013, the law against gay propaganda was passed in parliament. The TV editors first tried to replace me with other people. But it didn’t work, the others didn’t bring in enough viewers. Once they put in a Di Caprio type boy and there were a lot of comments like “You have to bring our tranny back! She was very nice!” Then the station boss asked me to change everything: my voice, my hair, my clothes. For me this was unacceptable, so he ended up expelling me and putting me on a blacklist. At 26, I was persona non grata in the whole TV industry.
I wasn’t even being paid for this show. I was young and stupid and hadn’t done a contract. I was able to feed myself by working in salons as a hairdresser or with special clients who brought me to Milan or Paris. I also won a European beauty championship in 2014. I worked with the theatre for big productions, and for Russian celebrities, singers, actresses, etc. I have organised immersive dance, music and opera performances in Moscow. I don’t know if I was happy. My life was only work. I had some friends, yes. But a companion? None! Only work.
In March 2022, I finally decided to leave Russia because I wanted to survive. Since this law, the state organises a persecution of LGBTQ people. Everything you do and say there can have an impact on you and your loved ones. It became impossible now for me to work, to get married, to have a family in Russia. I didn’t have the strength to fight anymore. I had no choice but to run away. I was either going to end up in prison, or simply killed. Here I can go to the shop or take the public transport without worrying. Yes, people look at me, but they don’t insult me, they don’t spit at me and they don’t try to kill me.
I applied for asylum to live in Switzerland. I first lived for three months in the centre for asylum seekers in Boudry. You spend your time waiting and nobody explains anything to you. It’s almost like a prison. It was terrible. And I was not safe at all. Luckily I was able to move. And recently I had the final interview to see if I can stay. I know that my international experience will be useful for this country. And all my art projects have the same message: we all have the right to love, and to flourish, whoever we are. And if my work and my story can help at least one person, then my mission is accomplished.”
(translated partly from Russian)
Part 1/2
“My family was always running between credits and payment obligations. My father was a tractor driver and my mother had three jobs at the same time. We were extremely poor. We lived in Siberia, in a small town of 20,000 inhabitants. For a long time Siberia has been a place of katorga [prison], and this prison culture has been preserved. It was impossible, for example, to talk about sexuality with your parents or for girls to talk about their periods. And if you are gay there, you are literally considered inferior. It was something unacceptable. There was no tolerance. And I grew up in the middle of that culture, in total solitude.
I always felt that I was different. Since my first memory at the age of 4, I remember that I wanted to sew dresses, dance and sing. And not fight and play war games. Everything about me was different: my voice, my behaviour, my clothes. Everything. The neighbours asked questions and often complained. And my parents were victims of this social pressure. They always asked me: “Why can’t you be like the others?” My mother didn’t receive any love as a child. So she looked for it in people around her. It was like an addiction. My father didn’t know what to do with this strange child. So he’d just beat me up.
And I started to understand that everyone wanted me to be as ordinary, as grey as possible. But how can you be like other people if you aren’t like other people? Some people try, but I couldn’t. I have lived my whole life against this way of being normal, of being grey. Throughout my life, I have claimed my right to my own way of being. And this little town couldn’t stand my brightness! At 16 I told my mum I was gay. For 5 months she didn’t speak to me and only cried. At that time there was little information about gender. It was only later, when the term non-binary came up, that I thought: this is what I am!
At school, it was violence on a daily basis. When I was 10 years old, the school organised a talent contest. I dressed up as Alla Pugacheva, the very popular Soviet singer. And I won the first prize! Afterwards, I went to the boys’ toilet and something happened there that I will never forget. A group of boys followed me and they brutally removed my trousers to see if I was really a boy. Then they peed on me. After that, they continued to harass me almost every day. They insulted me, spat on me, hit me and sometimes chased me around the city. It was really a war.
When I told my parents about it, they said, “Just use a piece of fence to defend yourself!” Then one day it went too far. They surrounded me and beat me so badly that I was hospitalised. I was immobilised for several weeks and continued to limp for several months. When my mother brought me home from the hospital, immobilised, my father said I had made it all up. It was like the last drop and he kicked me out of the house. I went to my grandmother’s and never saw him again. Over there, people have children to get free labour. That is their reason for their existence. If you can’t help, then you are useless.
My passion was dancing, ever since I was little. At dance school, I had no problems with bullying. It was my escape from my daily life. But because of this injury, I could no longer dance. So I started studying hairdressing. When my mother found out about my choice, she told me she was going to hang me with her braid because it was so shameful for a man to be a hairdresser. But I didn’t change my mind. I was very good at it and soon won the Golden Scissors competition in all of Siberia. It was the first time in the history of my school that one of its students won this prize.
After that I moved to the big city of Siberia. I was 16 years old and studied hairdressing at a higher level. This was the beginning of normal life. I was able to see a psychologist, there was an underground gay club and an LGBTQ association. The community was beginning to emancipate itself. But there was still a lot of violence against us. I was the victim of many attacks. One day I was walking with two friends. A car stopped and four guys with knives came running towards us. Fortunately, a police car appeared and they had to run away. Half of my Siberian friends were killed like that. Sometimes I wonder how I managed to survive…”
(translated partly from Russain)
Part 2/2
“As a result of all this violence, I developed post-traumatic symptoms. I reacted to sudden sounds, I had panic attacks. Sometimes I had the feeling that someone was chasing me and I was always ready to react. It was also impossible for me to make love or trust anyone. All of this was hampering me from living. When I was 19 I moved to Moscow to work in a hair salon. It was better but I was still not safe. Once, in the metro, two guys ripped out my earrings. My ears were bleeding everywhere, I was terrified. After that, I never took public transport again.
In Moscow, there were often competitions in the salons to show one’s art, and I won many of them. Thanks to this, I got a job as an assistant to the art director in the most famous salon in Moscow. This salon worked for famous people and for several TV shows. And after some time I got my own TV show for the TNT channel. I presented a makeover show: how to do make-up, hair, clothes, etc. And the participants of reality shows, series and other productions of this channel came to get a makeover in my show, and sometimes I intervened in theirs.
My show had up to 5 million viewers with online streaming! There were many insulting comments and threats on the videos. I had to change my address several times because I noticed that guys from Chechnya were following me. But despite that, the show was doing very well. I think it’s because the atypical, the original, is important for everyone, it attracts. But I didn’t experience all that as a success. The only thing that really inspired me were letters I received from people of the LGBTQ community who lived in small villages. They thank me for showing myself as I am because they felt empowered.
In 2013, the law against gay propaganda was passed in parliament. The TV editors first tried to replace me with other people. But it didn’t work, the others didn’t bring in enough viewers. Once they put in a Di Caprio type boy and there were a lot of comments like “You have to bring our tranny back! She was very nice!” Then the station boss asked me to change everything: my voice, my hair, my clothes. For me this was unacceptable, so he ended up expelling me and putting me on a blacklist. At 26, I was persona non grata in the whole TV industry.
I wasn’t even being paid for this show. I was young and stupid and hadn’t done a contract. I was able to feed myself by working in salons as a hairdresser or with special clients who brought me to Milan or Paris. I also won a European beauty championship in 2014. I worked with the theatre for big productions, and for Russian celebrities, singers, actresses, etc. I have organised immersive dance, music and opera performances in Moscow. I don’t know if I was happy. My life was only work. I had some friends, yes. But a companion? None! Only work.
In March 2022, I finally decided to leave Russia because I wanted to survive. Since this law, the state organises a persecution of LGBTQ people. Everything you do and say there can have an impact on you and your loved ones. It became impossible now for me to work, to get married, to have a family in Russia. I didn’t have the strength to fight anymore. I had no choice but to run away. I was either going to end up in prison, or simply killed. Here I can go to the shop or take the public transport without worrying. Yes, people look at me, but they don’t insult me, they don’t spit at me and they don’t try to kill me.
I applied for asylum to live in Switzerland. I first lived for three months in the centre for asylum seekers in Boudry. You spend your time waiting and nobody explains anything to you. It’s almost like a prison. It was terrible. And I was not safe at all. Luckily I was able to move. And recently I had the final interview to see if I can stay. I know that my international experience will be useful for this country. And all my art projects have the same message: we all have the right to love, and to flourish, whoever we are. And if my work and my story can help at least one person, then my mission is accomplished.”
(translated partly from Russian)