Kristy Yakimova

My name is Kristy. I’m 23.

I’ve loved drawing, stylising and sculpting since I was little. I graduated from art school, won a prize in a culture and arts olympiad, and gained a state-funded place at university. University didn’t work out for me, so now I’m making my own way, continuing to do everything I’ve loved since childhood.

My drawings are light and quick; scenes usually come to me all at once. I always try to capture a deliberately unfinished quality. The forms should vary: irregular, elongated silhouettes in space, set against a clear, “correct” environment.

I usually work in pastel tones. They are part of that unfinished quality: a hazy feeling within clear lines.

My favourite colours are pink, white, grey and ash lilac. They express my delicate nature, my tenderness, and how I feel in the world.

I also return to curls and flourishes — anything that coils into a fine, graceful silhouette.

She is my friend

My main character is an elongated, anthropomorphic cat. Stories come to me naturally when I draw her. She embodies that same lightness.

Often, she wears only underwear; she is relaxed and content in the moment she's in. Since she appeared, my work has begun to take shape and develop a style of its own. She is a guide to a state I want to inhabit.

She is my friend, and she can become a friend to anyone who wants to share a moment with her — when they feel like letting everything go and simply enjoying themselves, even in their underwear.