The author of the comic "My Sex" about talking to candid topics
this week Austria hosted the premiere of the performance based on the book “My Sex” by Alena Kamyshevskaya. The frank comic-story about the life of the author, including sexual, was unanimously approved at the time of release. Without undue embarrassment, Kamyshevskaya tells about everything that happened to her, focusing on what is usually "not accepted" to talk about: child injury, rape, the first and not the last sexual experience. Growing up in a country where there was no sex, she is acutely experiencing a taboo issue now. We talked to an artist about how comics help to leave painful experiences in the past, the power of autobiographical stories and why keeping silent about problems is not the answer.
I graduated from the Moscow Art School of Memory 1905. Since then I have been trying to make money with it, but my income from comics is very small, so in a sense this is a hobby. Before “My Sex,” I painted short stories about everything in the world: not only about myself, love and sex, but also just about various aspects of life. Twice I received prizes at comic book festivals for my stories. Around the time when I decided on My Sex, I painted illustrations for periodicals - sometimes they needed comic strips.
I am not only an artist, but also a writer. “Alyona Kamyshevskaya” is a pseudonym that was coined for newspaper publications. My first story, entitled "The Nympho Diary" was published in the erotic newspaper "More." One of the variants of the name then was “Feminist Diary” - not because I confuse these concepts, but simply because publishing my “intimate diaries” was considered too bold a step for a decent girl. I did not want to take a pseudonym, but the editor-in-chief insisted that all its authors do this in order not to accidentally upset moms and grandmothers. Since then, several of my stories have been published in "More" - so I realized that people were interested in what I was writing and decided to draw a big book. Nickname - it’s convenient when you don’t want your mom to know what you think of her (but I’m working on it). The rest are aware that I am writing erotica. The newspaper, however, closed two years ago, it seems that very on time, I can not imagine her life in modern Russia. And sometimes you want to speculate about sex during ovulation!
I've been cooking for a long time in our comic book community. under my real name, now everyone has learned that I am also Kamyshevskaya. When the book was printed and I had the honor of presenting it at the Center for Comics and Visual Culture at the Youth Library, it turned out that they could not print the word "sex" on the event billboard. They promised to put the book on the top shelf in the reading room - whoever reaches out, he finds out that there is not a single erotic picture in the book, there is no mate, but once the word "ass" is used. On the book, I myself put a limit of 18+ - I just wanted to talk to the reader in an adult way.
Comics - it is not always "neighing", especially such as mine. Autobiographical comics - it is always about the "sob." In 1995, I saw the book "Léon la came" by Nicolas de Crecy in a bookstore in Paris. He fascinated me at first sight: I clung to the publication and begged my father to buy it for me. It was a real spiritual kinship, although there was not even an autobiography, but simply the life of a person in an absurd style, a la Toulouse-Lautrec or Munch. I think that my publisher, Dima Yakovlev, as well as me, it seems that it is not such a pointless thing to publish books. Yes, maybe comics in Russia is a very exclusive thing, but we are not the only ones here. In this case, comics are now gaining popularity in the country. I myself think in comics and storyboards - I would like to share them. Now everyone can write, but to write and draw is not everything.
I got married when there was a coup in the country. Sex and freedom came into my life at the same time.
Publisher "Bumkniga", which printed me, Already released several autobiographical stories. Although I didn’t want to “peek” while I was working on a book, who decided how any problem with graphics, color, typeface and other things, I read almost everything. I must say that all these autobiographies are drawn “quickly” - when you are rushing out, you just can't do it slowly. Yes, and it was done for sure, like me, in parallel with the main work, that is, it was not paid. If I painted the frames, then it would take me not three years to book, but nine years. In addition, it was a very therapeutic experience. The book is finished, released, you can now fill the void with new images. I believe that you need to draw controversial and aspirational moments of your life. So they will remain on paper, and not in your heart.
Any creativity is a release from fear, so it was with me. On the other hand, it is also an adaptation of oneself for others: "Here I am what / what. Look." Many people draw not themselves, but an abstract character in situations close to what really happened to the author. Some people paint how difficult it is to kill a dragon, because he was your friend, and others how difficult it is to kill a friend, even though he is a dragon. One woman asked me: "Why do you think that we are interested in reading about you?" I told her then some kind of nonsense, but it was necessary so. Authors almost always write about themselves. Even if they write someone else's biography, they will still pierce somewhere anyway: the hero will order the coffee that the author himself loves.
My childhood is the 70-80s. I got married when there was a coup in the country. Sex and freedom came into my life at the same time. Before this sex in our country was not, but what happened between a man and a woman, was disgusting. And the kiss of a pedophile hindered me for a long time in developing relations with the opposite sex. Nobody ever told me about what to do with the monthly ones: in the summer camp, my mother gave cotton wool and a needle and thread - as I recall, I shudder. Six years of childhood in the diplomatic community abroad, I consider to be generally killed: no puddles, dirty knees, kittens, and so on. “What they think” and “what they say” fettered not only actions, but also consciousness.
I still hate when they expect me something like a woman - in clothes, in everyday life. When I worked as a screenwriter in one cartoon based on a famous Russian folk tale, I wrote a story for a girl, although the main role was a boy. I believe that girls can also be winners. It got ugly sometimes, of course. My friend, having learned that I was not born in Moscow and worked for many years as a scriptwriter and chief artist with my former husband-director, asked: a) so you worked on it with him? b) is it his apartment? I answer everyone - my apartment, I made very good scripts and pictures, so my last YouTube movie has 34 million views. Not "pumped".
The society has recently degraded, almost to the level of the Middle Ages. There is no reason to wait for a respectful attitude towards a woman. I sometimes draw comics to order, so half the time they ask for boobs. In general, the state should already pay attention to raising children, allow the mother to introduce such notions as “good”, “love”, “creation”, “peace” and “death”, “evil”, “hate”, into the child’s head. war". I am proud that when I was called to a well-paid job in a well-known series, I decided in favor of my daughter. I'd rather draw at home for little money than to disappear from the house for 12 hours every day. She was then five years old and she really needed me.
I gave my book to my daughter, she is already 14 years old, so that for her the problems of growing up and self-awareness are relevant. In her words, she read something, something - no, but I did not press and ask what it was and why. We periodically talk about life, I think she gets enough information. The most important thing in raising a child is love, I love her very much and trust everything. In the work on the book, I sometimes showed her a storyboard and asked for advice, is it clear what I wanted to say.
They do not learn from the mistakes of others. But now, really, there is where to call in case of violence. The same Internet: if you are tormented by a question, put it in a search engine - you will get the answers. Twenty-five years ago, this was not, but it was time to think - I do not know which is better. I do not feel like a victim of violence. Somehow coped, left, forgot already. My daughter is growing up now - I told her that I was worried about her, that it was very important for me that she did not risk her life, that if she died, I would be very upset.
While I was drawing a book, the laws went out, and I understood that my innocent comic book could easily fall under the ban on propaganda of pedophilia, drugs and homosexual relations, or offend anyone’s religious feelings. I corrected something, I even had to throw out the whole mate, but still the word "sex" probably offended someone. Thank God, the book has not yet received complaints from any services, perhaps, experience in an erotic edition may have affected. If Bulgakov lived in our time, he would have written other "Notes of the Young Doctor". Listening to the prevailing prejudices is always wild. From oral sex you can get pregnant. Anal sex will save your innocence. If an unmarried woman has lovers, then she is ***, and if it’s about a man, that’s normal, but don’t jerk off. I spent several years in “Answers” in “Theme for adults” on Mail.ru, I heard a lot about it.
Nobody told me what to do with the monthly ones: in the summer camp, mother gave cotton wool and a needle and thread. As I remember, I tremble
Soon we will have sex banned, and not only the word, but the process itself. A scarf on the head, a skirt to the floor, sleeves to the wrist - and then "she asked for herself." We still have not bad sex, but with the understanding of what sex is. Probably, he may well again be a mystery and a sin. "Jerk off is a sin!" - it is not written anywhere, except in my book and in the appropriate context. According to legend, Tannhäuser suffered from ordinary people, when love and sex were united in his song, but then he repented so much that his sin was forgiven. And now even such a Tannhäuser cannot be seen in the performance, which is significant. Love is a spiritual relationship, no body? I do not agree - it is too narrow.
I was depressed- I'm not sure that I won it, but around me there are people who love me, which is very important. As soon as I finished the book, a completely perfect man appeared before me, who put a lot of effort into proving to me that he was what he needed. I fell in love and now I want to draw a book about him too. He is a typical “fifth column”, and it would be interesting for me to understand how a good person lived and lived, and then I realized that he is now called the “fifth column” for being “too smart”, he knows his rights, the Constitution and the Criminal codex.
In some magical way I was approached by an Austrian translator Ruth Altenhofer, who believes that the Russian comic strip unfairly remains in the shadows and should be promoted in Russia and in the West. It turned out she has a familiar theater director, and he has a whole troupe, and together they come up with a play for my book. The premiere was held on April 15, I haven’t seen anything yet, but very interesting. Now I am drawing a series of short stories about people who defeated the disease. With sex is not connected. This series began with a dachshund, in which her hind legs were paralyzed, but at the dacha she continued to dig holes, and now she runs on all four.
The photo: Zhenya Filatova