Erica Kisheva is one of the brightest and most extraordinary personalities who became famous after participating in the House 2 project. Erica is the first and so far the only one of the show participants to admit that she is a transgender girl and was a guy before the operation, this is confirmed by her childhood and teenage photographs.
At birth, Erika Kisheva was a boy whose name was Tahir Hasanbievich. She was born on November 27, 1981 in Nalchik. According to Erica, from childhood she felt out of place in her body, but did not find understanding and support from her family.
Parents were frightened by Tahir’s desire to put on makeup and dress up in his sister’s outfits. During his school years, Tahir was a black sheep and even then he understood that he had nothing to do in a small town. At the age of 22, the guy plucked up courage, dropped everything and went to Moscow to visit his childhood friend Anzorina, who underwent sex reassignment surgery from male to female.
It was Arizona that helped the young man settle in the capital, find work in a nightclub, where Tahir danced in women's clothing, and he was especially good at oriental dancing. Gradually, the guy joined the crowd of non-traditional minorities, even receiving the title “Miss Travesty”.
Being in a thematic environment, the young man finally came to the conclusion that he actually wanted to live in a woman’s body, and not just dress in women’s clothes. Tahir took a new name, Erica. Without consulting a doctor, Erica began taking hormonal medications to achieve curves and reduce testosterone levels.
Sex-change operation
Erica Kisheva before and after surgery, the photographs speak for themselves: changing gender from male to female is the most serious change in a girl’s life. Erica came to the scandalous TV project Dom2 in the guise of a fatal temptress.
A tall, slender brunette (her height is 181 cm, and her weight is about 50 kg) with sexy shape and a low voice appeared before the audience. When she first appeared on the show, Erica did not hide the fact that she had undergone sex reassignment surgery, which shocked many participants and viewers.
Erica does not like to go into detail and reveal the details of the operation. Gender reassignment is not an ordinary irreversible operation; it cannot be done in any plastic surgery clinic. To carry out such a serious intervention, it is necessary to have the opinion of a commission of doctors. To obtain such permission, you must be registered and observed in a psychiatric hospital for 2 years.
If during this time (after regular communication with psychiatrists) the desire to change sex does not disappear, then a medical commission of three doctors from different medical institutions is appointed, all three specialists must confirm the diagnosis of “transsexualism” and give their consent to a serious operation.
Only after such a conclusion is it officially allowed to switch to hormonal therapy and change gender surgically.
It should be borne in mind that all expenses are covered from the patient’s personal funds; there is no state quota for expensive medicines. Hormonal therapy before surgery should last about a year. Such drugs will have to be used for the rest of your life. The operation itself is also carried out entirely at the expense of the patient. Not everyone has the financial ability to do everything at once.
Gender change from male to female can be approached in several stages: first, mammoplasty, breast augmentation with the help of implants, and after a while, correction of the genitals. Only after an actual gender change and a certificate of surgical intervention can you apply for a passport change.
Erica does not hide from her biography that life was not easy for her, she had thoughts of suicide. After accepting herself and deciding to change her gender, she tirelessly pursued this goal, although at one time she even practiced the oldest profession in order to cover all the costs associated with a gender change. 
To bypass the bureaucratic system, many transgender people, like Erica, begin taking hormonal medications without a doctor's prescription. Some people go abroad to change their sex, since such operations do not require a medical examination, all you need is money.
Erica does not like to talk about this stage of her life, since such changes and rehabilitation were not easy for her. It is known that the operation was performed in August 2006, when the girl was 24 years old.
Some ill-wishers often write to Erica that after such surgery and taking hormones, life expectancy is 35 years, such a statement alone is a myth, you just have to look at the age of transsexuals living today.
Having undergone gender reassignment surgery, Erica fulfilled her dream; she is now 36 years old and feels great and looks amazing.
Breast augmentation – mammoplasty
Erica Kisheva before and after the operation (photos demonstrate this clearly) is a completely different person, since changes in appearance affected everything: gender, figure, face, appearance in general. Her appetizing, rather large breasts clearly indicate that Erica had implants inserted. 
After taking hormonal drugs, Erica’s shape began to become rounder, her breasts “grew” from size 0 to size 1, but this volume did not suit the girl.
After plastic surgery to enlarge the mammary glands, Erica's breasts became so large and heavy that at one time she even wanted to remove the implants. The latest photos of Erica are still with large breasts, which means that such shape suits her quite well.
Rhinoplasty of the nose
Erica did not at all like her Caucasian wide and huge nose, given by nature. Some even noticed that her prominent nose was similar to the nose of Mikhail Galustyan. After rhinoplasty, the girl’s nose became much thinner and shorter, with a slightly raised tip.
Lip augmentation
Erica Kisheva before and after surgery. Photos from her youth and now undoubtedly indicate that the girl was overly interested in lip augmentation. Moreover, she made various injections repeatedly, since it is impossible to achieve such a volume in one, two or three procedures. 
At one time, Erica regretted that she had gone too far with lip augmentation and even wanted to pump out the gel from them, since such volume began to cause significant discomfort.
Beauty injections
It’s unnatural to be 36 years old (that’s how old Kisheva is now) not to have facial wrinkles. Botulinum toxin injections are best at relaxing muscles and preventing the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles. Of course, such intervention is reflected on the face, it becomes less mobile and emotional, but all visible signs of aging are removed.
Injections of hyaluronic acid (the so-called biorevitalization procedure) help improve the shape of the face; with their help, you can smooth out small wrinkles around the lips, correct the shape of your cheekbones, and you can even get rid of dark circles under the eyes.
Erika Kisheva has slight swelling of her face, only the nasolabial folds are clearly visible, and there are no traces of small facial wrinkles. At her age, this indicates regular visits to a good cosmetologist and beauty injections.
Surgery to remove ribs
The topic has been repeatedly discussed online that Erica’s thin wasp waist is a consequence of the removal of her lower ribs. Even on the show House 2, Erica let slip to several participants that she actually removed a couple of her lower ribs to give herself a thinner waist. 
Kisheva’s figure is a classic hourglass; it is not surprising that many envy the chiseled sexy forms of the popular Instagram diva. However, it is worth noting that before, in a thin male body, Erica’s waist was quite narrow. After breast surgery and removal of ribs, the waist appears even thinner in contrast.
In recent years, Erica regularly visits the gym, where she works out with personal trainers. Now the girl’s figure is simply ideal: moderately toned, without a drop of excess fat, with well-developed abdominal muscles and appetizing female curves. 
But the beautiful shape of the buttocks is entirely the merit of Erica and her regular training, and not of surgeons. Kisheva advises all girls: “Get into the gym, get a dose of good mood and, to boot, a firm butt!” Erica herself is incredibly pleased with this result and often boasts about her nude photos on Instagram.
Erica Kisheva photos before and after plastic surgery
Erica herself claimed that she had only three operations: gender reassignment, breast enlargement and improvement of the shape of her nose. She told someone in confidence about the operation to remove the ribs at House 2, such information was immediately leaked online. Kisheva does not deny that she also repeatedly used the services of cosmetologists to enlarge her lips.
However, looking at the photos before and after plastic surgery, judging by the absence of wrinkles and swelling in the lips and cheekbones, we can say with confidence that Erica also had hyaluronic acid injections and Botox.
How much do Erica's surgeries cost?
It is difficult to say exact figures, since the price of plastic surgery and services depends on the clinic and the doctor’s qualifications.
| Type of intervention | Price in rub. |
| Sex-change operation | Erica claims that the operation cost her 105 thousand rubles. However, it should be taken into account that this was in 2006, now prices are at least 5 times higher. If you undergo a complete transformation, the final cost can reach 2 million rubles. Hormonal medications (which you will have to take for the rest of your life) cost 5,000-7,000 rubles monthly. |
| Mammoplasty (breast augmentation with implants) | From 120,000 to 350,000. The cost varies depending on the quality of the implants. |
| Rhinoplasty (nose job) | From 100,000 to 240,000 depending on the complexity of the operation |
| Lip augmentation | From 5000 to 40000 per procedure. The price depends on the material. |
| Removing ribs | From 150000 to 350000 |
| Botox injections | From 2000 to 10000 for one facial procedure. The nasal area, glabellar fold and correction of the corners of the lips are cheaper than eliminating crow's feet around the eyes and eliminating wrinkles in the forehead. |
| Beauty injections | From 2000 to 35000 per procedure. The price depends on the quality of the material, as well as the level of complexity of the procedure. |
Erica's personal life
Erica was in an intimate relationship with participants from House 2 Alexander Gobozov, Vladimir Khurs, Alexey Adeev, and rapper Dzhigan. Some joke that it is easier to list those with whom a girl has not dated than all her sex friends, boyfriends and fiancés. 
According to the latest data, Erica has an active personal life, but she is not going to get married and is not even ready to “live together” and run a joint household, since this stage has already passed, and everyday life quickly extinguished her passion.
Erica believes that she is better suited to the role of a passionate lover than a stay-at-home wife. Erica proudly shows off traces of passion (hickeys and bites) on her naked body to her followers on Instagram after stormy nights of love.
The girl is also famous for her negative attitude towards overweight people, but in her defense she says that she acts for the good, because “she doesn’t believe in carrots or sticks.” Erica is especially critical of herself, such kicks help her not to be lazy and go to morning workouts. 
Although there is no limit to perfection, Kisheva believes: “We all, without exception, have some shortcomings!” The star leads an active sports lifestyle, even quit smoking and tries to eat healthy foods.
Musician, teacher at the Maskeliade School
© Nina Frolova
Is it easy to do what you love?
It all started with vinyl records by Alla Pugacheva, the fairy tale “Rikki-Tikki-Tavi”, “Peter and the Wolf” by Prokofiev. When I heard beautiful harmonies, I almost cried - I got such pleasure. Even then I felt that I would like to share this pleasure with others.
After school, I went to study at the University of Management, Faculty of Economics, because my parents told me to go there, and I didn’t yet know what I wanted. I entered the budget, studied there for five years, and graduated. I don’t have a single memory from this period. And at the age of 22, I understand that I now have a lot of free time and I can spend it on whatever I want. I entered GITR as a sound engineer to understand how sound works, while simultaneously working as a sales manager for spare parts for woodworking equipment. I graduated from the second higher education with honors and, it seems, for three years I did not miss a single class: I was high because I chose what I wanted. During the day I worked, and in the evening I studied music: I wrote songs, organized concerts for myself and filmed videos. The salary was not very big, so they sometimes allowed me to take a month off at my own expense so that I could travel around the world performing. Then music brought, of course, insignificant income.
When something doesn't work out, I get angry and charge myself with this energy to finish what I started.
I always had a need to express myself, to change the world around me, to radiate. I wrote music, shot videos, drew, did art projects. In 2012, I was invited to the American music program One Beat. With 30 musicians from all over the world, we experimented and created music. Then we got on a bus and drove from Florida to New York, stopping in each city and playing shows in bars, museums and clubs. This was the first experience when I felt like a real artist. I felt what it was like to be applauded. I returned to Moscow. It was very sad at first, but I realized that it was time to act, and I began to post my tracks in the public domain and tell the world about myself. After some time, I received attention from the media, including .
And everything somehow went on and on, I started looking for opportunities to play at concerts, sent, it seems, a thousand letters, received a thousand refusals, and then one festival said that they had one slot. So I performed at Avant Fest, it was my first festival. Then I decided that I wanted to play abroad, and started sending letters to agencies, bookers, and managers. Again, thousands of refusals, except for one: I received an invitation to a showcase festival in Bratislava, where I met managers who helped me organize tours around Europe. So in 2015 I performed at Glastonbury. However, I was still working at work.
About despair and mission
Of course, sometimes I feel despair. When something doesn't work out, I get angry and charge myself with this energy to finish what I started. It so happens that when on the way to the goal you begin to drown (there were a lot of such moments in my life), either gills grow, or a motor appears, and you gradually go up to take in more air. There is a cool indicator: when you see that everything is gone and you have no strength, you need to try again, and just at this turning point everything changes according to your rules. If you give up, it means you don't want it that much. And maybe it's not yours.
Two years ago, when I was 29 years old, I somehow acutely felt that I simply no longer had the right to waste time on something I didn’t like. I left work. It was a risk because music did not bring stable income at that time. But my experience has shown that as soon as you take a step towards what you want, life begins to help you. As a result, I was immediately overwhelmed with work related to music. I began to give lectures on musical topics, go to camps as a mentor, help organize festivals, and last year I opened my own school, where I now teach.
Every person should love himself first, and this should be a stereotype
I really enjoy teaching - sometimes even as much as playing concerts. I feel powerful feedback and a great pleasant responsibility for the guys I teach. We become friends. Among the graduates there are those who change their lives, quit their jobs, some create their own studio, start voicing games and cartoons, or simply write a track for their grandfather. And for me this is the coolest thing: I’m trying to make the world brighter not only through myself, but also through the people around me. Like Pierre Curie, I bathe in radioactives, only I have notes that carry positive radiation, infecting everyone around me. I remember very well how a year ago in May I wrote down on paper a plan for what needed to be done to open a school: come up with a name (this was the most difficult thing), find premises, and so on. I quickly got two courses for August, September, and now I have a waiting list for three months ahead. And somehow it happened by itself.
Stereotypes are following some expectations, stable ideas, and I actually don’t destroy stereotypes, I follow them. Because, in my opinion, every person should love himself first, and this should be a stereotype. People who do not like their work or do what they do not like are precisely destroying the stereotypes laid down by nature. In this regard, my mission is to tell everyone I meet that every day we die a little, and we don’t know what will happen tomorrow. Why waste your life on something you don't love? At my school, I try not just to give tools on how to use a program for writing music, but to charge my students with energy and confidence, because through creativity a person becomes an individual and then has the opportunity to change this world, because everything that surrounds us, objects and technologies , is the result of creativity.
Takhir Kholikberdiev
Owner of the restaurants “Yuzhane”, “Skotina”, Mr. Drunke Bar, Butcher's Pie, Adam's Rib
© Nina Frolova
How to drop everything and open a bar
I used to be an opinion maker: I wanted the press to say good things about the telecommunications company I worked for. Six days a week I wore a suit and tie: no matter whether I had a headache or how I felt, I always had to do my job professionally. Everything suited me until one incident. Ever since my student days I have wanted to go to a Placebo concert. They performed at a festival in Holland, and my friend Sergei Plyusnin and I had been planning a trip there for a very long time. I was already driving to the airport when suddenly they called me from the secretariat and said: “The director is calling you urgently.” - “What a director, I’m on vacation!” - “No, you urgently need to fly with him to Sochi.” I turned around and went back: naturally, I didn’t have any concert or vacation.
I led an ordinary clerk's life: I went to work, received a lot of money, did not worry about anything, spent it, drank it away. All this time I thought: “How cool it is to have your own bar and not pay for alcohol.” I had the illusion that being on the other side of the bar was better than being on this side. And after that incident with the concert, I opened a bar - it was the simplest thing I could do.
Was I scared? I just didn't think about it
I usually don’t consult with anyone, and if I want to do something, I do it, although some of my decisions lead to headaches. For example, buying a yacht. I live in Krasnodar, and when I was little, I sat by the Black Sea and asked what was on the other side. They answered me that Türkiye. How long does it take to swim? For a long time. Until dark? Longer. And then my class and I went to Moscow, and there I saw Aivazovsky’s painting “The Battle of Sinop.” I looked at the map and found out that Sinop is located opposite Novorossiysk, and also read that the fortress depicted in the picture has been completely preserved. I had a dream to come in from the water and see her. And I made this childhood dream come true: my friend and I bought an old wooden yacht, recreated it, sailed through Turkey and Greece. The boat remained in Turkey, because such a yacht needs constant attention. We looked for a very long time for a special buyer who would appreciate it, and when we sold the boat, we were happy. We miss you now. In general, it is better not to tell anyone about your plans. You need to be responsible for your actions yourself.
In order to open a bar, I sold the apartment that I inherited. Was I scared? I just didn't think about it. There was a thought: since I do it in a way that I like, why shouldn’t others like it?
About difficulties that change
The most difficult thing was to find highly qualified employees. As for the HoReCa market, there is no education here. Anyone can become a waiter; it is seen as a way to earn extra money. My kitchen workers were mostly employees from vocational schools who went there only because they weren’t accepted elsewhere. And it turned out that at first I spent a very long time talking with people who had at least read Theodore Dreiser, and then with those who had not even heard of it. Over time, everything changed, of course. You start to figure it out, make connections and hire people who meet your requirements.
I realized that I need to treat this business not as a business, but as a craft
In the first six months after I opened the bar, I went shopping myself, DJed every weekend, drank, but didn’t really do anything. At first I treated it like a vacation - they say, I’ll rest and do something else. Perhaps it seemed so to me, because the bar was very successful from the first day, it quickly paid for itself. Then there was euphoria, some kind of dream - without consequences, without problems. Then I began to understand that there were, for example, certain difficulties with food in the kitchen, and I tried to understand this. I went to Le Cordon Bleu cooking school in London and saw that the standards of any cuisine come from French traditions. I decided to try to do the same at home and opened the Jean Paul cafe. French technologies were used there, but we cooked from local products. On Sundays we went to the market and came up with a separate menu for the day. It had its own cellar, its own garage, where all preparations and marinades could be made. As a result, French cuisine through the prism of Kuban products has proven itself well.
Then I realized that I need to treat this business not as a business, but as a craft. And when the question arose of what to do next, I realized that I wanted to deal with the product that is best consumed and that I love most - meat. I traveled around the Krasnodar Territory and saw that we have a lot of pastures, and on them there are very few grazing animals. And besides, there are old cowsheds and feedlots that remain from Soviet times. I wanted to create not just a steakhouse to sell 3-4 steaks from America or Australia, but to get involved with livestock production and figure out how tasty meat is obtained. One day, my friend jokingly suggested the name “Beast”, and I decided that it was cool. Almost three years passed from idea to implementation: we had to find a herd, figure out where to place it, raise it, and understand the technology. Unfortunately, I can’t quickly make restaurants that will open, collect all the cream, and then close in two years. Now “Skotina” is five years old, and the restaurant is growing.
How to develop meat culture in Russia
At first we had 500–600 bulls and cows ready for slaughter, and it seemed to me that this meat would be enough for a year, but several months passed and only 80 remained. We didn’t really understand what we were going to do, and we were moving away from the concept of locality it was impossible. At one point a man came to the restaurant, we met him, and he said: “What kind of bulls are these?” - “Hereford, Charolais, Angus.” - “Oh, I also have such breeds, but they are impossible to eat.” I asked how many there are, and they told me that now it’s not a lot, 10 thousand heads. My eyes widened. Another man said that he got the workshop because of his debts, but he doesn’t know what to do with it. In general, it turned out that the guests who went to the restaurant found it interesting to enter this industry. This is how our cooperative began to develop. Now there are about 60 different manufacturers there - from feed to poultry and cheese. All these are people who could and wanted to make a quality product, but did not know where to sell it. I wouldn't say that the whole community gathered around me. People just saw that this could be done in their own direction. I think we have started developing meat culture, and the Skotina restaurant is still the only one of its kind in Russia.
And then I opened “Yuzhan” in Moscow - vanity took over. Imagine: you are sitting in Krasnodar, reading an interview with a famous Moscow restaurateur, and he talks about things that you did three years ago, and journalists and critics agree that this is the first time in Russia. In fact, Moscow simply lives its own life, and Russia lives another. And the moment came when I realized that I could try to do what I did three years ago and be in a very big trend.
Natalya Zabelina
Blacksmith-armourer
© Nina Frolova
Why go to work in a forge at 16?
When I was young, I was a professional athlete. At first, of course, I wanted to become an Olympic champion, then a coach. But neither one nor the other worked out. During the collapse of the Soviet Union, they stopped giving us uniforms and shoes, the professional approach disappeared, and we ruined everything - our legs, our knees. In the 11th grade, I started having health problems: I didn’t want to give up sports at all, and I decided that in the summer I would rest, get some treatment and continue training.
My older sister Lyudmila embroidered with satin stitch, and she met the blacksmith Valery Koptev, who needed a beautiful tablecloth for an exhibition in France. He ordered it for his sister, and the two of us went to take the tablecloth. Valera looked at me (and I was small, thin and wiry) and said: “Let’s go behind the house, I’ll show you the forge.” He asked me to lift a 12-kilogram sledgehammer and swing it. And he called me to work. I didn't sleep all night, thinking. And in the morning I came to Koptev. I decided that I would no longer return to sports, because I understood in my head that it was probably impossible to cure me. By the way, I didn’t watch any sports programs for a very long time - it’s hard to cope with the fact that you fell out of the picture. I was 16 years old then.
My goal is to create a new page in the history of decorated weapons
In the summer, my parents lived in the country, and we lived in the city. I told them that I train in the morning and evening, and during the day I have massages, although I myself worked in a forge. So I held out for a month, and then they found out. But it’s impossible to argue with me; it’s easier to agree. At the forge I grabbed everything very quickly, I was stubborn. Maybe this somehow scared Valera, and he gave me the opportunity to develop further - despite the fear that some girl would do it. We worked together for three years, and then I separated.
Freedom in craft
For 23 years, this profession has not become routine for me - if it had, I would, of course, quit. I can’t do the same thing from call to call, but here I constantly experiment with damask - and it’s still a secret to me. This is a steel that consists of several homogeneous steels welded together by forge welding. The usual approach takes about half a day (that’s three welds and about 350 layers of steel), but if you’re making art objects or starting to mess around with some kind of mosaics, the production time can take up to a year or two.
There are two paths in the blacksmith's craft: either you make extras and get paid for it, or you follow the hungry path, when you create one exclusive item for collectors. Such products go down in history, and this is my goal - to create a new page in the history of decorated weapons.
When I realized why I was here, it was very difficult: there were no orders at all, they didn’t understand me and didn’t want to accept me. I dug this new trench for two years, proving that I was doing everything right. I lived alone, I had a rented apartment and premises, and I also had to feed my son. There wasn’t enough money for anything; it was a very difficult period in my life. Then Valera and the director of the Tula plant, Vasily Isakov, helped me a lot, who bought my blades just so that I could survive. And then fate brought me and Olya together, and everything went as it should.
When we do work, we fall into a kind of trance, we simply disappear and forget time, everything in the world. We can't do it any other way
We met Olya almost seven years ago. She is a photographer, and one day a collector came to her to take pictures of her products, and she slowly began to fall in love with them. Olya began ordering blades from gunsmiths, but they saw that it was a girl - and goodbye. Then she wrote me an email and ordered two blades - she found me by the mark on the product. I came to her in Moscow to give her an order, and we agreed that she would come to photograph my products. Soon she moved to Tula, and all these years we have been working together. Olya draws sketches, makes handles, scrimshaw (bone drawing), everything is very complex.
About the public and exhibitions
There are only 2-3 people in the whole country who work like us. When we come to exhibitions abroad, we are told that the Russians cannot work like that, you are deceiving us, the Russians always have something unfinished: let’s say, a perfect blade, everything is fine, but the handle is not cleaned enough, the curl is not quite right, something is not cut properly. We generally break stereotypes; our knives are very unusual. I used to say: “Look at the blades as if they were a painting.” We are tired of telling that these knives should not cut, and now I say: “If I don’t like it, I won’t explain, but if I like it, thank you.” Now people who come to the exhibition are energized by these works.
For some reason, it’s a tradition in Russia that if you show up abroad, people here will begin to perceive and hear you. At some point, I realized that if we don’t travel abroad, we won’t have any movement here. We had our first exhibition in Israel, where there is no understanding of the knife at all. But David Darom lives in Israel, a grandfather who has been traveling to exhibitions for many years and photographing craftsmen and their products. He publishes a world book, and if you are published in it, then you rise very high in the eyes of collectors. So we took part in this book. Then there were exhibitions in France, Italy, America.
We just want to do what we like, and there is no need to say that this is an unfeminine thing
Our customers are different people. Lately, women have also started applying. We have already accustomed men to the fact that we are women gunsmiths. We don’t recruit customers, they appear on their own. But it's getting harder and harder for us to do because we want people to accept what we've done, not the other way around. There is a struggle here. When we do work, we fall into a kind of trance, we simply disappear and forget time, everything in the world. We don’t know any other way, so we have collectors who wait two to three years for work.
About difficulties and stereotypes
I always understood that this is a difficult path, but when you fail at one thing 25 times, you place some order, but it doesn’t work out, and if you don’t do it, you won’t be able to feed your son, then you breaks it out. You stand there, sobbing, don’t know what to do, you hate it all. And then it passes, you calm down - apparently this anger is necessary.
About 10 years ago I would have said that where ours did not disappear, but now I will say that this is the dirtiest, most difficult, dangerous profession for any person. Coal dust gets into your lungs, and when you work on a grinder, even in a respirator, your teeth still creak. This all remains in the body. When you forge, the vibration starts to ache in your arms, joints, and back. I know that I won’t be around for long—maybe another five years. I’m sorry that I realized late why I was doing this.
I believe that we live in a wonderful time when, apparently, all the work of feminists (thanks to them for this, although I am not among them) has borne fruit: thanks to them, many professions, many doors have become open. I believe that a person, regardless of gender, should decide for himself whether to mutilate himself or not. Women now, despite the fact that they occupy some position in many areas, still remain women. They come home, do laundry, cook, and take care of the children. None of this disappears; on the contrary, it only gets worse. And men are somehow very jealous of this. But we don’t want to take anything away from them, we just want to do what we like, and don’t say that it’s not a woman’s business.
Alexander Luzanov
Puppeteer artist
© Anna Schiller
Plasticine passengers
Even in early childhood, I sculpted a lot, and my parents had no problems with me: they could leave me with a box of plasticine all day. Sometimes they cursed, saying that you won’t have a childhood because you don’t walk in the yard like all the children. They bought me cars, like all boys, but I was incredibly bored playing with empty cars, I needed someone to sit in them. And I myself made dolls from plasticine.
At some point, I felt that plasticine was an imperfect material, and began to try others. For example, he began mixing cotton wool with oil paints and making dolls from flour and salt. Then I started sewing, because I realized that I couldn’t do without it. And he began to cut quite a lot of wood, and with a shaving razor. At the age of 15, I began to study anatomy quite seriously: I realized that I lacked this knowledge for work. Then I independently mastered modern materials.
Seeing how I wielded a razor, my parents insisted that I get a normal male profession: carpenter - woodcarver. This became my first education, and my second was as a drama and film actor. In 2006, I moved to St. Petersburg from my native Tomsk and discovered that there were so many actors here and so much competition for places that my skills related to puppets were much more in demand.
First earnings
My girlfriend lived in St. Petersburg, and I came to her with completely empty pockets. On the first day, my shoes literally fell apart. Before that, I sent my dolls to the girl, and she placed them in souvenir shops. We went for a walk, went into these shops and discovered that my dolls were sold, and I had money to settle down for the first time in St. Petersburg.
Most often it happens the other way around: you start doing something you love, and after some time it begins to bring you income
At first there were moments when I was handing out flyers on the street and all that. And about six months later, a competition for a doll took place in Novosibirsk with a large fund. I won it and received money on which I lived for the next six months. Here I met other masters - at that time dolls were developing very actively in St. Petersburg. Soon I began teaching designer dolls to adults at school. Now I mainly teach classes with children at the Teenage and Youth Club of the Petrograd District.
Now I rarely fulfill orders, because it’s not very interesting to me, and besides, I have nothing to offer the client. Lately, I’ve been most interested in modern technologies: engineering has jumped forward very powerfully, and many technologies have appeared that artists don’t use at all. That's why I'm now interested in 3D modeling and see interesting opportunities in it. I haven’t succeeded in anything yet, but I’m wondering if this is the same reason why I started making dolls in general. It’s good when financial and other ambitions intersect and you can get paid for what you like, but it doesn’t always work out that way. Most often it happens the other way around: you start doing something you love, and after some time it begins to bring you income.
How to make St. Petersburg run after dolls
At some point I came across contemporary street artists. I suddenly became interested in everything that was happening on the street, and I decided to experiment too. I looked for cracks in the city that had formed over time, and glued dolls there. I was interested in not just covering up this crack and decorating it, but also observing what would happen to the doll later: how the environment would begin to interact with it, how the weather would affect it, how people would interact with it. I started doing experiments around my workshop, and suddenly someone passing by took pictures of the dolls and posted them on Facebook. The photographs spread all over the Internet, and, in my opinion, for another week all this information wandered around the Internet: “mysterious white figures”, “what the author wants to say.” Many thought that these dolls were a protest against the housing and communal services service.
I tried to sit out until the last minute, because at that moment I was not yet ready to talk about the whole project. But at some point I realized that I had done nothing all day, but only tracked photographs, caught mentions of my last name and wrote to people asking them to stop writing who was doing this. I realized that this couldn’t continue like this, and when the journalists contacted me, I agreed to talk to them. Under one of the comments online, someone joked that this was Pokemon Go in St. Petersburg.
I don't face judgment, but I do face misunderstanding
I suggested making a quest out of this, and my friends and I prepared the rules: I posted the doll once a week and wrote a hint under the hashtag #entrancethrough the souvenir shop. The person read, found the doll and posted a photo of his find under the same hashtag. At the end we made a secret exhibition. The next year we started the same game again with the hashtag #huntingcuckoldtwo, and this time we managed to make a full-fledged concept with a parallel reality in which the revolution did not occur, but the monarchy remained - and all the characters in the quest were dedicated to this story. My friends and I made a video, but we didn’t draw too much attention to it. At the end of the year, we submitted a video by Alexander Gusakov about the project for a grant from the Youth Policy Committee. We won and distributed it to all the participants who worked the most on it. It wasn't a lot of money, but we were happy that we could at least have that impact on the story.
About stereotypes
I feel like I constantly have to break stereotypes. Situations often arise when you feel that the entire space is almost physically resisting you, and you have to break through it. Sometimes you take some steps, and no one around you can understand the logic of your actions, and you yourself cannot explain it - you just understand that this is right, this is necessary, this is exactly what needs to be done now. For example, the story with the dolls on the street: no one could have imagined that it would unfold like this. My friends helped me, but most people thought that this was a so-so idea, the guy was making a fool. I don't face condemnation, but I do face misunderstanding.
It seems to me that any stereotype sits inside myself, and most often I have to break something inside myself, and this is what worries me more than anything else. If inside you were able to overcome the framework that limits you and gives you nothing, then you feel such freedom, such uplifting that you don’t care about anything else at all.
Margarita Zvyagintseva IncidentsA young man from Vladivostok, Ivan Yarochkin, has already received more than one fine for traffic violations. But interactions with law enforcement did nothing to change his love of racing in the busy city center. On a summer night in mid-June, Yarochkin and a friend decided to test the capabilities of their Toyota on Nevsky Prospekt - and in a matter of seconds they accelerated to hundreds of kilometers per hour.
Friends-street racers started from Mayakovsky Street, but did not go far. At a nearby pedestrian crossing, they hit an elderly woman who looked to be sixty years old. Apparently, the woman started to cross the road when the light was green, but when she reached the center, the light turned red. This saved the driver of the foreign car from the second article – 109 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation “Causing death by negligence.”
Now Yarochkin faces only the standard Part 3 of Art. 264 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation – “Violation of traffic rules resulting in the death of a person through negligence.” The speed enthusiast from Vladivostok did not go into hiding, and is currently under recognizance not to leave the place. He recently deleted his pages on social networks. After it became known who he shot down.
The identity of the deceased, however, remained a mystery for a long time. Nobody seemed to be interested in the woman, she didn’t have a passport with her, and no one was in a hurry to identify the deceased.
At the same time, the former ballerina and leading teacher and tutor of the Mariinsky Theater Olga Iskanderova disappeared from view of those around her. The woman lived alone - about two years ago she buried her mother, and the husband of the Mariinsky teacher, also a famous dancer and teacher Takhir Baltacheev, died almost 20 years ago. They had no children.
In the apartment on Marata Street, the ex-ballerina and honored artist had only a cat for company. Her pitiful cries made people worry - ten days after the owner’s disappearance, the hungry animal managed to meow at the neighbors. They called the police.
Investigators called the head of the ballet troupe of the Mariinsky Theater, Sergei Proskuryakov, to identify the body. It turned out that the “elderly woman of about 60” who died under the wheels of street racers was 75-year-old Olga Iskanderova. As the former ballerina’s neighbor noted in an interview with “78,” Iskanderova did not look her age—even her gait was “young.”
“This is a big loss for theater and ballet,” shared Mariinsky Theater ballerina Elina Kamalova with “78.” – Because there are not many teachers who have such mastery of the repertoire and have such a level of creativity and knowledge of the profession.
According to the girl, Olga Iskanderova was a very demanding and responsible teacher, a high-level professional. But she combined high demands on students with sociability and cheerfulness.
“She was a wonderful, interesting person; you could always chat with her, talk about some interesting topics. It was always very pleasant. She always responded,” recalls Elina Kamalova.
Her colleague Sergei Proskuryakov also spoke about what a bright and positive person the honored ballerina was:
– She was a very cheerful person. She loved to joke. She loved to drink coffee and chat. She lived her life to the fullest. She was the lead tutor, rehearsed solo parts all the time and was always in the thick of our events.
Olga Iskanderova was born in besieged Leningrad in 1943. She graduated from the Leningrad Choreographic School (Vaganova Academy), after which she danced at the Mikhailovsky Theater. The ballerina performed solo roles in The Sleeping Beauty, The Bronze Horseman, Paquita, The Creation of the World and other Leningrad ballets.
After completing her career as a ballerina, Iskanderova began teaching. At the Academy of Russian Ballet named after A. Ya. Vaganova, which she herself successfully graduated from at one time, the St. Petersburg resident taught for almost a quarter of a century - from 1985 to 2010. Among its graduates are such famous ballerinas as Veronica Part, Svetlana Ivanova, Victoria Kutepova, Tatyana Nekipelova.
In recent years, Olga Iskanderova has been the leading tutor at the Mariinsky Theater. No one knew how lonely the honored artist, born in besieged Leningrad, was.
The former ballerina has no blood relatives left. There is only relatives by husband - the famous dancer and teacher Takhir Baltacheev. Olga occasionally communicated with his cousin, also a former dancer, artist of the Mikhailovsky Theater Shamil Baltacheev, called each other, and together they attended cultural events.
As the brother-in-law of the deceased woman himself admitted in an interview with “78”, he did not even suspect that his relative had no one left - after all, the Baltacheev family, on the contrary, is very extensive, and the St. Petersburg resident has a lot of his own relatives, close and distant.
According to Shamil Baltacheev, the last time he and Olga met was in May. Her brother-in-law called her and invited her to an exhibition at the Academy of Arts. After the meeting, Olga went to the theater to run errands. And less than a month later, she was gone.
“I called her about once a month,” says Shamil Baltacheev “78.” “And she told me: “Just please call me, don’t forget!” I said: of course, I can always call.
Olga Iskanderova's husband Takhir Baltacheev was an Honored Artist of the Bashkir Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, an Honored Artist of the Tatar Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, a famous teacher and a unique dancer. Tahir was almost 20 years older than Olga - and danced at the Kirov Theater (today's Mariinsky Theater) even before her birth. Like his wife, he also graduated from the Leningrad Choreographic School.
Having completed his career, Takhir Baltacheev taught at his Alma Mater - for many years he was a teacher of character dance, and since 1959 - a tutor at the theater. Kirov. He died in 1997, and it is quite possible that the main reason for his death was a strong desire not to leave the theater even for a minute.
“He and Olga were driving from the dacha, and Takhir became ill,” recalls Shamil Baltacheev. “We stopped in Ozerki, she took him to the hospital. He spent the night there. And in the morning he says: “No, no, I have to leave, I have a rehearsal at the theater in the morning!” And I went to the theater. On the same day he became ill and died. Of course, this was a shock for Olga.
However, then the honored ballerina still had her mother, the brother-in-law of the deceased emphasizes. But a couple of years ago she passed away, and Iskanderova had no blood relatives left at all.
Now the Mariinsky Theater will handle the funeral of the artist and teacher. According to Shamil Baltacheev, Iskanderova’s ashes are planned to be cremated. But street racer Ivan is awaiting trial. The maximum sentence he faces for the death of a St. Petersburg woman is five years.
It's hard to imagine that the luxurious woman Erika Kisheva was born a man. Thanks to a series of complex operations, her appearance changed dramatically.
What were the girls worth these years? In the article you will find out whether she was able to achieve peace of mind and find herself again. How many relationships did the star of the television project House 2 have, and did she find her other half?
The article shows the famous participant of the television project Dom-2 Erika Kisheva before and after sex reassignment surgery.
Childhood
One of the most popular participants in the project spent about a month on television, leaving behind many unsolved mysteries.
Tahir Kishev was born into a fairly religious Muslim family of a truck driver and store salesman. Since childhood, Tahir has been faced with misunderstanding and rejection of his personality. Even in his youngest years, the boy clearly understood that he was interested in dolls and beautiful women's clothing. While his parents were not at home, he tried on his sister’s outfits, put on makeup, and, as he later admitted in an interview, he felt like the happiest person in the world in those moments.
He told his parents that he felt with all his heart that the image of a man was given to him from above by mistake and something must be done about it. Men's games, the harsh education of willpower did not affect the boy in any way; a vulnerable female nature was hiding inside him and trying to break free.
Neither society, especially the parents, supported the child. All issues were resolved by punishment or hushing up the problem. Tahir said more than once that he wanted to become a girl, but the strict framework of Muslim upbringing did not allow his parents to listen to his opinion.
Escape to Moscow
At the age of 22, Tahir sells his personal belongings and buys a one-way ticket. Then his childhood friend Anzorina was already waiting for him in Moscow. She had already gone through the difficult path of changing her sex and starting a new life. Together they worked part-time in nightclubs, danced oriental dances and rented housing.
Career
Carier start
Later they managed to perform at more serious venues, where the future Erica was noticed by the then famous transsexual Varvara Strange. She appreciated the talent of the runaway child and took “Magical Ladies” into her show.
After 2 years, Tahir could not imagine himself in men’s trousers, he forgot what a man’s gait and brutality were. Dresses and makeup were now not only a stage image, but also a bright component of everyday life.
First nickname
Taking his first pseudonym Landa, Tahir took first place in one of the most prestigious competitions in Moscow, “Miss Travesty.” Despite the overwhelming success, he felt unhappy and empty. He continued to court the girls, remembering his parents’ parting words and harsh upbringing, but all relationships ended abruptly.
Suicide attempt
Many years later and having become famous, Erica admitted that the turning point in her life was her suicide attempt. Tahir rushed between male and female life, as if between two fires. Lack of self-acceptance and fear of change brought him to complete devastation and severe depression. Thoughts of suicide did not leave him for about a year.
Thanks to his friends, Tahir was able to get out of this. The guys insisted on gender reassignment surgery and made the young man understand that this was an absolutely adequate desire.
Erica Kisheva. Operations
Sex-change operation
Without curbing his fear of gender reassignment, Tahir made a serious mistake - he took powerful hormonal drugs without consulting a doctor. Six months later, serious changes began to occur: a transformation of the voice, a change in facial features and the figure itself.
Tahir admits that he is very lucky: he did not cripple his health. But he had no intention of going to the doctor when it was still possible to turn back time; according to him, the doctor had to not only understand the seriousness of his intentions, but also see the first stage of transformation.
After a series of successful gender reassignment operations, Tahir changed his name to Erica and finally left the life and behavior of a man in the past.
If you ask Erica now about life in a male body, she will easily smile and say that this did not happen. She doesn't remember being a man.
MYTHS
Erica claims that she only had genital replacement surgery. It is not true.
Without a doubt, Erica suffered:
- Removing a pair of edges
Lip augmentation
If you compare the photo of Erika Kisheva before and after the operation, there will be no doubt - the girl constantly undergoes procedures for “pumping” her lips. This effect is most easily achieved through injections of hyaluronic filler. In the case of Erika Kisheva, injections were not enough. Lips and corners were lifted using mesothread, in simple words - transplantation of one's own fatty tissue.
Rhinoplasty
Changing the shape of the nose is a fairly simple operation. From the photo of Erika Kisheva it is now clear that the nose has become more graceful and small. This effect is achieved by raising the tip and moving the bones towards the midline.
Cheekbone correction
In recent photos, Erica Kisheva demonstrates sculpted and higher cheekbones. This is possible by adding your own fat to the required area, using contouring, or using implants.
Removing ribs
The girl’s waist has become much smaller; this effect cannot be achieved with diets and sports. Erica Kisheva in any video shows us an incredibly thin waist, such results can only be achieved after surgery.
ATTENTION! At the beginning of 2018, Erika Kisheva announced on Instagram that she wanted to continue changing her appearance. To begin with, she intends to remove the gel from her lips, which brings her severe discomfort.
It’s surprising, because she previously stated that there were no operations. What can you do, you can expect anything you want from a shocking personality.
House 2
Having received the body of her dreams and finally feeling feminine and desirable, Erica decided to entrust her heart to a man. Having experienced many emotional upheavals in her life, she was not afraid to audition for the most popular project of that time.
In 2007, Erica passed the casting for “DOM-2” and overnight became one of the most popular participants in the television project.
Erica's self-esteem rose every day - crowds of men complimented her, and in the project itself several men competed for her heart. There was no trace left of her former depression - Erica was basking in fame and compliments.
GOSSIP
Not long ago, information appeared in the media about the connection between Dzhigan and Erika Kisheva. The star apologized to the singer and said that all connections remained in the distant past, long before his marriage.
Relationship
The first on-screen relationship developed with Avdeev. After short visits, Erica and Kisheva and Alexey Avdeev were placed in a separate house. The audience predicted a long relationship for them, seeing Alexander’s loving gaze. But Erica wanted a serious relationship, and did not see him as the man of her life.
After the breakup, she didn’t stay alone for long and soon started a relationship with the new project’s Vova Khurs. Fans predicted stunning success for the couple, hoping to observe their personal life in the project. Unexpectedly for the film crew, the couple announced their departure, declaring that the project’s mission had been completed - they had found each other. The rest should remain secret from the audience, because this is personal life. After leaving the project, the couple did not last long; soon the media learned about their separation.
Less than a year later, Erica returned to the project, explaining her action with a desire to help Wenceslav Vengrzhanovsky find himself. Having changed the handsome man's hairstyle and style, Erica achieved her goal - the young man was surrounded by female attention and soon found his other half. Having announced that Erica had completed her mission, she proudly left the project forever.
In fact, her departure was associated with the appearance in the life of a former member of House - 2, Alexander Gobozov. The couple planned a wedding, but it had to be postponed due to the conviction of Erica's lover for 3 years for fraud. I plan to wait for my lover, the girl did not cancel the wedding for a long time, but soon Erika Kisheva and Gobozov broke up.
Erica now
Despite the fact that Erica practically does not appear on television, fans do not lose sight of her - the former participant in the project maintains her own Instagram page, where she shares photos and videos of her personal life with fans.
Psychologist's opinion
There are many rumors around Erica, especially her scandalous behavior and rash actions give reason to think about her psychological state. Specialists are concerned about Erica's condition; there is no sparkle in her eyes, she constantly wants to change something about herself and commits many rash actions. Numerous scandals and the desire to go under the knife indicate severe emotional trauma. Given Erica's reluctance to see a psychologist, it remains a mystery what her next crazy step will be.
Caucasian Tahir came to the Dom-2 project and began, as befits the participants of this reality show, to “build love.” At first glance, this would not be surprising if it were not for about a transgender person, that is, a young man who has changed his gender and thanks to plastic surgery, transformed literally beyond recognition. Since at the moment he is called Erica and considers himself 100% a woman, then further in the text, in order to avoid confusion, we will also consider himself the same.
Who is Erika Kisheva
Erika (Tahir) Kisheva was born in Nalchik, the capital of Kabardino-Balkaria; in November 2016 she turned 35 years old; belonging to the male sex weighed on her since childhood, which manifested itself in desperate attempts to wear women's clothes and put on makeup. Let us recall that the North Caucasus is not the most successful region for such experiments, so the feminine young man, after two attempts to commit suicide, decided to go to Moscow. In the capital, a young man took the pseudonym Landa, became a dancer in a transvestite show, won the title “Miss Travesty 2004” and (you can’t erase a word from the song!) began to engage in prostitution.
Life, as they say, was getting better. However, the transsexual was greatly irritated by the male body, so female hormones were used, thanks to which the desired changes occurred, in particular, breast enlargement, but this seemed not enough, and the decision was made to put an end to the male past forever, that is, to undergo sex reassignment surgery.
Erica Kisheva: body plastic surgery
Sex-change operation. This is a fateful surgical intervention for Erika Kisheva: having paid 100,000 rubles (this is the figure that appears in most sources), she became a girl not only in sensations, but also physically. Erica is a frank lady and does not hesitate to talk about surgical correction of the genitals and breasts.
Breast augmentation surgery. Erica Kisheva was inserted, and quite successfully, if you believe numerous photos. The breasts were “done” ten years ago and, judging by the posts on social media. networks, the girl was pretty tired of it. Erica is nostalgic for her flat boyish chest, believing that with it she looked more tender and feminine. In this regard, the desire to return to the forms given by nature has matured: Erica plans to have another operation - this time on.
Surgery to remove ribs. If Erica speaks often about gender reassignment and breast enlargement and, it seems, not without pleasure, then one can only guess about the operation to remove ribs by looking at a photo of a young lady in a swimsuit and comparing a figure that attracts attention with a wasp waist? with a boyish body without the slightest hint of any curves. To make the figure look like an hourglass, the ribs of the bottom pair are removed (more precisely, shortened). By the way, such an intervention is possible only in thin people; fat people first remove fat (do it) from the abdomen and waist. After the operation, which is performed under general anesthesia, there follows a fairly long recovery period, smoothly flowing into another operation - this time to remove the scars remaining after healing. Since the ribs perform a protective function in the body, losing them can lead to prolapse of the kidneys and injuries to other internal organs. Among the stars who had surgery to remove ribs were Marilyn Monroe, Cher, and also, according to unconfirmed reports, Dita Von Teese and.
Increasing the volume of the buttocks. Looking at the photo of Erika Kisheva after the operation, we can assume that she did, that is changed the volume and shape of the buttocks by placing special implants in them, consisting of a durable silicone shell filled with a thick gel-like composition. By the way, experts believe that it was thanks to such surgical correction that Jennifer Lopez and. In addition to silicone implants, one can add fullness to the buttocks through surgery to transplant the patient's own fat cells. Usually fat is taken from the abdomen or thighs, but in our case this was hardly possible - Erika Kisheva clearly did not suffer from excess fat deposits before or after gender reassignment surgery. However, the girl could build muscle mass in the gluteal area by using hormonal drugs, but it may turn out that seductive shapes are the merit of shapewear.
Erica Kisheva and facial plastic surgery
Increasing lip volume. There is no doubt that Erica Kisheva. Most likely, she regularly receives injections of some kind of hyaluronic filler, for example, although it is possible that she underwent lipofilling (transplantation of her own adipose tissue) or biodegradable Dermafil mesothreads were used to enlarge her lips, allowing her to slightly raise the corners of her lips.
Changing the shape of the nose. It can’t be said that Erica is naturally too, but she apparently wasn’t happy with his shape. Therefore, there was, during which, probably, the bones were shifted towards the midline, so the nose became much more graceful, which was greatly facilitated by the raising of the tip.
Correction of cheekbones. In recent photos, Erika Kisheva’s cheekbones have clearly changed in shape, becoming higher and more prominent. A similar result can be achieved in several ways: by installing permanent implants (this is unlikely, since such a correction is usually done to people who have weak cheekbones from birth, but in our case, the cheekbones were quite pronounced), adding your own fat to the desired area, or using contour plastic surgery . The latter is most likely; it can be assumed that some kind of dense filler was used for correction, for example (based on calcium hydroxyapatite) or (based on polylactic acid), but, with a high degree of probability, it could have been a filler such as (Juvederm Voluma).
As a result of the manipulations, the girl’s appearance changed beyond recognition. Erica Kisheva before and after sex reassignment and appearance changes - two completely different people. Today she is a glamorous beauty who admits that, at the cost of incredible efforts, she has brought her inner world and appearance into complete harmony.