Document Type

Paper- Restricted to Campus Access

Publication Date

4-29-2026

Faculty Mentor

Johanna Mellis

Abstract

Starting in 1993, the queer (or LGBTQ) community has experienced significant discrimination in the USSR. Queer men were jailed, lesbians were ostracized, and queer people as a whole were silenced, for queerness stood as a threat to the state’s power and its ability to reproduce people willing to submit to it. Even while society moved toward liberal and democratic ideals in the 1980s and 90s, queerness is still discriminated against, specifically through calling it “propaganda” and the rise of anti-queer sentiment, which remains ongoing to this day in post-USSR territories and, especially, Russia. Hence, honoring this community serves not only to bring hidden narratives to light but also to forefront this ongoing issue. In this presentation, we propose a commemoration project of Russia’s queer community, to be located in the Met in New York City. It will include different mediums of art, from music, drawings, photography, and others, all of which are to be created by artists in post-USSR countries. The art would center experiences of queer people in these regions, as art has historically been used as a form of protest against oppression; in this way, we honor and provide a stage for the silenced.

Comments

Presented as part of the Ursinus College Celebration of Student Achievement (CoSA) held April 29, 2026.

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