For many LGBT Russian artists, the invasion of Ukraine and the accompanying political crackdown was the ultimate straw. Helped by a Paris charity, they’ve discovered a new home in France.
Alexei, a 23-year-old composer, used to imagine that he might trip out President Vladimir Putin’s regime, however watching his mates being arrested or fleeing the nation in the wake of the conflict, he felt he had been naive.
“The war caused me pain, shame and guilt — you tell yourself that you haven’t done enough against this regime,”
Alexei, who didn’t need to give his full identify, instructed AFP.
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RUSSIAN LGBT ARTISTS FIND SANCTUARY IN PARIS
He knew he had made the suitable choice to go away when he heard that police had visited the St Petersburg music faculty the place he was a trainer, accusing it of selling “LGBT propaganda” over a photograph of Alexei kissing his boyfriend on its Facebook web page.
He got here to Paris with the assistance of a assist group, the Agency of Artists in Exile, and was joined by his boyfriend quickly after.
The company arrange a hotline for artists from each Ukraine and Russia following the invasion and has helped round 100 artists from the 2 nations, offering them with studio house, in addition to assist with visas, language coaching and psychological assist.
As he performs Rachmaninov — a Russian composer — in one of many company’s follow rooms, Alexei says he’s relieved however daunted.
“Here, I have some freedom,” “I just don’t know what to do with that freedom.”
he stated.
Ukrainians, Russians collectively
Others have discovered the transition troublesome, too.
Having lived in fixed worry of being overwhelmed up again home, Angelu, a non-binary designer, stated they have been too traumatised to go away their new house in Paris after they arrived.
It was, maybe fittingly, a Ukrainian neighbour who approached them and helped them achieve confidence to discover the town.
That relationship is mirrored across the company’s workshops, the place Russians and Ukrainians work carefully collectively, and just lately held a joint exhibition.
“The war stops at the doors of the workshop,”
stated Judith Depaule, who co-founded the company in 2016.
It is a wierd combine, she stated, because the Russians have misplaced all sense of patriotism and the Ukrainians are in the midst of patriotic fervour.
Gena Marvin, 23, arrived in late April.
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TRANSGENDER ARTISTS
Back in Moscow, the transgender artist was engaged on “trash art”, utilizing discarded gadgets to create costumes and sculptures, in addition to performances akin to wrapping her physique in tape that evoke “a country where there is no freedom and where the freedom of my body was not permitted”.
Still listed as male on her official paperwork, Marvin was afraid of being known as as much as battle in Ukraine, and determined to go away after being arrested at an anti-war demonstration.
“I don’t feel the same fear in France, but I am still on edge because once you’ve been accustomed to fear, you never totally lose it,”
she stated.
She has thrown herself into her new life. Over the weekend, she could possibly be seen wrapped in rainbow-coloured tape for the Pride March in Paris.
Alexei, who’s engaged on the soundtrack for a movie about Ukraine, nonetheless holds out hope of sooner or later having the ability to go home.
“It is not Russia that is homophobic — only the Russian state,”
he stated.
© Agence France-Presse
