 My name is Filip and I'm from Serbia and I'm gonna talk about transformations on more of like a private level Because before I even know anything about sexuality or gender I was often told that I'm maybe too too girly or not masculine enough for a boy in terms of Serbian standards so I often use transformation to kind of blend in and kind of not be seen that that often in my natural kind of a state like how I usually behave but one thing that was always there was creating characters and characters like these and But three time as I started to like learn more about myself and as I started to explore my queer identity I started to use my own body to present these characters and kind of I got into Makeup and costumes, etc. So I Started to yeah, I use my own body for transformation and Even though I still use like pencils brushes paint and everything I always come back to acting it out myself and taking photos myself and What I feel about about transformation in my case is that it's it's a liberation of my creativity Because I feel like in that way I can express like every idea I have in my mind and kind of like express each and every interest of mine both painting or like now even physical expression but What I also found out found out about transformation in my case is That is a healing process for me because during the time when I would sit down and put on a makeup and kind of Shift to this cat this character that I'm gonna act out later in front of the camera I kind of always lose a part of myself and kind of go away from the everyday kind of struggle or problem and through the through the time by the time I finish up my Photo shoots and stuff. I would feel like completely as exhausted like an athlete kind of exhausted But fulfilled and I could kind of come back to my everyday issues and struggles So it kind of helps me to both express myself and kind of get away from what I'm used to hearing and Through time through time I also realized that this kind of expression was actually even more appreciated by others Actually people who care about me in general, but I got to connect with more people through this So I realized that this kind of transformation is something that enriches my life and it should not be Hidden not shouldn't remain hidden But also I wanted to mention that the four photos that I showed you today are actually four photos that were published either online or like were used for fashion week in Serbia because they were all collaboration with fashion designers and I feel like in a sense by being out there both in like social media and Maybe like something more commercial I feel like I'm kind of transforming also like the scene of of Serbian view at like different kind of beauty because Maybe fashion is like a way to do it But I feel like I reach out to do the two people who wouldn't actually maybe be interested in such things and I feel like I explore more beauties of fashion in Serbia by doing so so Yeah, but this is this is a part of my my queer expression And I hope you all signed up so we can continue on a conversation upstairs But I want to finish up by thanking everyone for coming and by inviting my fellows to join me here