22/09 OPENSPACE: QUEER DOUBLE LIVE (Olga Zhgun, St. Petersburg)

14:00 / loft COM.NATA / Hall 2 / 136 Obvodnogo Kanala Embankment

Queer stylist and creator of the studio for gender transformation, QUEERPOINT, Olga Zhgun will talk about gender-non-conforming people, who live their lives differently. The subject of her speech is «crossdressing» — a phenomenon that includes transgender people who, for reasons personal or social, do not transition, non-binary transgender people, trans women, and fetishists.

Typically crossdressers are ignored by the LGBT community, as they can be difficult to understand, unwilling to be contacted, and it can be difficult to ‘sort them out’ by gender identity. They lead a unique double life, in which they can fulfill both gender roles. Furthermore, most of them are quite closeted — the majority fear possible exposure. Since journalists don’t have access to them, crossdressers are mistakenly associated with gay culture or travesty.

Olga Zhgun has been working with crossdressers and trans people since 2009 and has sucessfully gained their trust. She has received the opportunity to conduct interviews with crossdressers and share them with a small audience.
The participants of her interactive lecture will see documented photos of crossdressers, videos, and text excerpts and audio clips of the interviews. During the lecture, a guest from Estonia, Sabrina Utkina, who herself is a part of the community, will share her personal experience. Stanislav Dolzhinskiy, a photographer-documentarian and the author of all photo materials in this project, will tell a little about his view on this community and his acquaintance with crossdressers.

«Your neighbor, brother or father, professor or boss might turn out to be a part of this community…and you may never have guessed it. Those people build their lives in a different way, and live two parallel, often completely uncrossing lives," tells the author of the project.

Since 2009, Olga Zhgun has been professionally working with gender transitions. In 2010, she started working with transgender people. She does everything in her ability to take part in projects that help trans people, such as running workshops, master classes and lectures. She creates projects, which cater to wider understanding and acceptance of trans people and crossdressers in our heteronormative society.