Brilliant. But also, of course, aside from all our metaphysical bullshit, just vote.
Yeah.
It’s a very real thing that everyone can do—just vote for democracy.
The voting thing is actually a bit of a problem at the moment, because there’s a lot of young people in US who are like, “Biden doesn’t speak to me, so I’m not going to vote.” My point being that not voting—when just voting can mean saving democracy itself—isn’t always apolitical.
I really loved what Navalny proposed for a few elections in Russia. He called it Smart Vote, and it was actually very simple: Vote for anyone who’s not Putin. People would be like, Why would I vote for this corrupt clown who Putin installed to run against him ? But Navalny reminded us: You don’t have to love that guy, or that woman—just push the button and get rid of Putin.
I generally don’t really involve myself much with American politics because I am laser-focused on what happens in Russia, what happens in Ukraine, but reproductive rights is something that I’m deeply passionate about. I feel like it transcends all the nation states, and what happens in one country influences what happens in another one. So, yeah, I’m here for that. We did a big action called God Save Abortion in front of the Indiana Supreme Court with a huge vagina, and I really want to see more protest and activism happening around reproductive rights.
You’ve alluded at various times to your mental health, or some issues you’ve had with depression, or anxiety, or both. Does it affect the art you make and the work you do, or is your art and your work helpful with any it…or is this perhaps not something you want to speak about in a public forum?
No, it’s fine talk about it; it’s one of the things I think we should be talking about openly. Mental health is important. I do struggle with major depressive disorder, PTSD, anxiety. It’s not fun. I’ve been on medication since 2014, since I got out of jail—I think it was triggered by my two years in jail.
I’ve found that TMS—transcranial magnetic stimulation—really helps me. It’s the next step after electroconvulsive therapy, which I’m sure you’re aware of, but electroconvulsive therapy is much more intrusive—it really can fuck up your memory—and TMS doesn’t do that. It’s magnetic stimulation, much more gentle, and I did two courses of that. There are downsides—it causes headaches sometimes, and of course it’s very time-consuming to have to show up to a doctor’s office every single day for eight weeks. But it really helped with bringing back motivation, and resilience, and stability in my mood.