Snowy Avis

Avis (pseudonym) / Janez (name)

he/she/any, on/ona, он/она

26 years old

eng | srb | slo (fluent), рус | fr (intermediate)

Genderfluid Transmasc, Bi & GrAce.

From Belgrade 🇷🇸, now living in Ljubljana 🇸🇮.

Dinaric Serb and Pannonian Slovene descent.

Hobby artist, I post my art on this blog.

Professionally a biologist, doing my PhD research in the olm and other amphibians.

Politically an anarchist.

My other hobbies include embroidery, reading, plant care, and I am an aspiring Scuba diver.

Me! (Self portrait)

About my art

snowyavis on all my social media (Instagram, Twitter, BlueSky, DeviantArt)

I am a hobby artist and most often work with water colours and digital art. I am probably best known for my Balkan Pride chibis, which you might see in the form of stickers around Slovenia and other places I visit.

I also have original characters that I am developing. I am not planning a full story as of now, but I might do short comics in the future. Learn about each of my developed characters by searching #AvisOCreference on my blog.

My art at the moment is usually inspired by themes of queerness, Balkan folklore and fantasy. This interest of mine started as an attempt at reconnecting with my cultural background, the parts that I didn't have a link to due to different circumstances. Now I am trying to give visibility to Balkan cultures, especially the lesser known ones or ones I have personal connections to, and also intertwine them with queerness, which has always been a part of these cultures, yet we were always denied our claims to them and were erased from our own history.

I am an anarchist; I am against states and borders, and especially nation states. All of my art is made out of love for the depicted cultures and ethnicities, and as such is meant to stand against nationalism in any form.

A little project I did while on a trip, featuring the olm (Proteus anguinus), the blind cave salamander endemic to the western Dinaric karst, often used as a symbol of Slovenia.

In many Balkan folk beliefs, witches, like other supernatural beings, have a soul shaped like an animal, usually a flying animal such as birds or moths. Their souls can leave the body through the mouth, roaming freely while the body sleeps.

Wishing everyone lots of love and kisses in the New year 🩷💜💙

Hajro is a bisexual man with a preference for men. He is generally promiscuous and very openly shows his interest in men, but due to his traumatic experiences as a teenager, his interest always stays on a temporary level. He especially likes rural men for the specific kind of beauty he doesn't see in the urban surroundings he's used to, but it's unlikely for such people to return his interest.

His preference for men is influenced by the society he grew up in, where women were segregated from men in most spheres of life, making Hajro unsure how to approach them - although this doesn't mean he doesn't do that from time to time. He is, however, disinterested in marriage.

Jandrija is a transgender man. He uses potions to masculinise his appearance and voice. Being seen as a woman is very painful to him, and being referred to as a woman is one of the few things that make him immediately lose his temper.

He is still comfortable with some activities that are viewed as feminine, like witchcraft and weaving and embroidery, and carries a distaff - normally a symbol of womanhood - for magic purposes.

Jandrija is bisexual. For as far as he can remember, he has been experiencing interest in both men and women, and as a child wished he could marry a girl one day. At one point of his life he was in an abusive arranged marriage with a man, which he escaped by murdering his husband.

My original character references and description

Ilinka is aromantic and asexual. She doesn't really understand sexual or romantic attraction, least of all when expressed towards her, and is often oblivious to it. She got married to her best friend to avoid their parents' wrath, but she and her husband function more like roommates, each with their own autonomy.

Ilinka does dream about having children one day, but not while she's still enjoying her freedom of not being under her parents' watchful eye anymore.

- Jandrija -

Transgender witch living a secluded life in the mountains of the Dalmatian Hinterland. Known for his potion making and herbalist knowledge. Ilinka's older brother, Hajro's close friend and partner.

- Hajro -

Fisherman from the south Adriatic coast, former pirate, with currently untamed powers of zduhać that give him supernatural strength and allow him to control the weather. Jandrija's close friend and partner, Ilinka's friend.

- Ilinka -

Witch from the Dalmatian Hinterland, living with her husband and often travelling and exploring the Balkans, collecting enchanted trinkets. Jandrija's younger sister, Tisa's close friend, Hajro's friend.

- Tisa -

Transgender adoptive daughter of a vila, knowledgeable about nature and mysterious magic of vilas, living in a forest and dreaming of being part of the human society. Ilinka's close friend.

- Damira -

Witch from northern Dalmatia with incredible wind based powers. Keeps a tailoring shop with her wife, Simeuna, who she's in a non-exclusive relationship with. Secretly interested in Jandrija.

- Simeuna -

Tisa

Tisa is a human who grew up in the company of vilas and still lives around them in a forest. She spends a lot of her time basking in the freedom of the wilderness, but also secretly observing humans, wishing she could be part of their community.