To me, being an artist comes from a deep-rooted necessity. It’s a natural way to transform your emotions, fears and desires into a concrete object like a painting. It’s the representation of an idea, using a language made up of images – much of it channeled directly from my subconscious, with little in the way of filters. I’ve been making art since I was a child and it’s always been my favorite way to spend my time, to be alone and to be able to visit my inner world. Since arriving in Paris, I’ve started a new series of art works representing pre-adolescent boys – an age when the games and innocence of childhood give way to adult thoughts and concerns. That phase when boys turn into men, between the ages of 10 and 14, is a stage when sexuality is still not fully expressed and when gender is still fairly fluid. My characters are androgynous precisely because I want to represent that sexual duality.