BOLD & YOUNG

‘Desiring Gazes and Desirable Bodies’ – a story shaped with art and photography, created by Bold & Young / Roman/Ramona. Check out Bold & Young’s previous feature on Pineapple here.

“My name is Roman/Ramona Valynkin and I’m a Queer Artist, Activist and Photographer based in Madrid, Spain. Growing up in the realms of a radical life – views and hard-hitting traditional values of post-Soviet reality, I’ve gone through a lot of bullying, discrimination and personal traumas. Living in the country with ‘Gay Propaganda’ Law I’ve been conditioned to stay in the closet up until my graduation from Uni. Running away from living an authentic life for the sake of being safe and publicly accepted had a critical negative impact on my psychological and mental health. By the age of 24 I ended up being totally confused about the ways of self-expression and multiple stigmas around my sexual life.

But no matter how hard the life was, deep down I’ve always known that I would persevere and find my way out of this toxic environment. So, I’ve made a decision to turn my reality upside – down, break through the norms and challenge my limiting beliefs around the topics of self-acceptance, sexuality, and personal growth.
With this in mind I moved to Florence in the beginning of 2018 and started working on the Project ‘Desiring Gazes and Desirable Bodies’. My main goal with this Project was to start healing myself through Art Therapy.
‘Desiring Gazes and Desirable Bodies’ is a Celebration of a proud Queer & Gay people worldwide. It is my personal Tribute to self-discovery and rediscovery, love and acceptance, justification of one’s own sexuality celebration of one’s own bodies and souls.

It is not by accident that all of my subjects are faceless or wearing masks. I apply this technique to both my Illustration and Photography. With the idea of disguising oneself I’m engaging with the audience. I’m welcoming the viewer to put themselves in the position of my subjects. The fierce body language of my characters is aimed to bring to live one’s most sacred and desired fantasies. Spain and Spanish people have a special place in my heart and my artistic career. The selected works were showed as a part of my First Art Exhibition ‘Bold & Young’, that took place in Madrid in March 2019. To me it was a breakthrough to present my Art & Photography to the Audience. That was my way of coming out and since then I’ve launched my new authentic life.” – Bold & Young