The Exhibition Celebrating Russia’s Queer Community
Founded by HUNGER fave Anastasiia Fedorova, Russian Queer Revolution is a platform dedicated to celebrating Russia’s LGBTQIA+ creatives. This September, it’s teamed up with The Outsiders Gallery at renowned East London queer venue VFD to present an installation that draws a portrait of the Russian queer community leading a cultural rebellion.
Due to the “gay propaganda law” imposed by the Russian Government as of 2013, there is no space for LGBTQIA+ representation in the country’s cultural mainstream. However, a new generation of queer Russian artists, designers, photographers, musicians, activists, writers, and educators are working to create a counter-discourse that nourishes and sustains their community.
The installation provides a snapshot of these trailblazers through a mixture of self-portraits, collaborative works, fragments from editorials, and various creative projects and aims to connect Russia’s LGBTQ+ creatives with the global community. Within the installation, you can see queer people of different backgrounds, including those with Ukrainian and Polish heritage.
Speaking of the project, curator and Russian Queer Revolution founder Anastasiia Fedorova says; “For me, as a Russian queer person and an immigrant, this project is significant for many reasons. It is a search for a Russian queer family I never had. It is proof of our defiant existence.
It is a hand extended to all the lost and exiled immigrant queers, and a celebration of all the different ways of finding home. It is about remembering how connected LGBTQI+ community is worldwide, and how diversity and inclusion makes us infinitely stronger. It is about remembering that no one is free and equal until we all are free and equal in every country of the world.”
Love what you see? Swing by VFD before 26 September and find out more via their site here. Follow curator Anastasiia Fedorava and Russian Queer Revolution on Instagram.
