HELP AKIS KA'S GLOBAL TALENT VISA APPLICATION

Hello, I am Akis Ka, a queer performance artist and drag queen from Turkiye.

I am one of the artists of Barbican's this year's Transpose. I have been in london for a while for Transpose and during my time in London, general elections took place in Turkiye and unfortunately Erdogan and Erdogan's political Islamist party AKP came to power again. During and after the election propaganda, their most significant action was targeting lgbtqia+ people. Being lgbtqia+ is becoming more and more targeted and our living-working-producing spaces are shrinking even more. When this is the case, unfortunately, I am afraid to return to Turkey and cannot believe I will have a safe life there anymore.

I want to produce art and survive with my art, I want to tell our stories, make us visible and announce our struggle to the world. But it is not possible to realise this desire in Turkey. If I continue to produce and share, my right to live may be jeopardised.

During my time in London, I have worked with many different organisations and institutions and we have achieved effective and great collaborations! I want to continue to live here and focus on change and transformation with the work I produce, for this I am applying for a global talent visa. Yet I have difficulty in paying my visa and lawyer fees which will be around £2500. My economic resources are insufficient to cover these fees and I need my community's support. There is a very important saying I have learnt in Turkiye is that 'solidarity is survival'. Indeed, many queers in Turkiye survive with solidarity, including me.

Please support my journey by donating and spreading this news, as I will be running with time to submit my visa application in time.