For a young man, Leon Yıldırımer has a very dark vision of himself and the world. The 18-year-old was studying art in Milan until the coronavirus pandemic interrupted his stay in Italy early this year.

Now he is back in Istanbul, where he lives with his mom and his brother. During the pandemic, he has been affected not only by the return to his country, but also by the suicide of his friend Orçun and the breakup with his girlfriend. Despite these events, he is investing all his energies into his passions: art and music.

Leon says that he feels different from the rest of the world. In fact he chose the nickname Yersiz Yabance, which means outsider without a place. He likes to paint self-portraits and says that through art he tries to relieve his suffering. He says that he wishes to move to a “cold cloudy empty place like Russia where there’s nobody,” where he could finally get his own space respected.