If you’re queer and online, you’ve likely already been confronted by the art of @genamarvin. She’s the haute couture creature slinking through populated city streets and subways looking like a Salvador Dalí version of Slender Man styled by Alexander McQueen for Fashion Week.
Agniia Galdanova’s QUEENDOM gives us a peek behind the iPhone to reveal Gena Marvin, the person, and the ways by which she navigates Russia’s draconian treatment of queer activists, performers, and people. With a cinéma vérité eye, Galdanova crafts an incisive portrait of an artist at the intersection of myriad global crises today: the assault on transgender lives, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, police states and the rise of nationalism, and drag and gender-defying art. Although Gena Marvin’s specific situation couldn’t be more timely, QUEENDOM is a timeless document of resiliency in the face of fascism, an inspired and inspiring act of rebellion crowning a new kind of queen.
– Joshua Ray
