“My fursona doesn’t pay bills”
Silver: Your ~fursona~ is your character, an anthropomorphic animal.
Ms. Night Love: Before I found furry culture, I was doing a lot of role playing. It made me realise I enjoy getting into character. My fursona is based on my favourite animal: The otter. I’m currently developing a new dimension to my character, a darker side, kind of werewolf-otter. I plan to sew a costume for her as well, so I can swap between the different roles.
Silver: The character is developed and formed in line with one’s self. You develop different characteristics and qualities for your fursona, it’s an ongoing process. Fursonas also age.
Lavender Frost: The costume helps you be who you want to be. Hiding your face means you can let go of the stress of how people perceive you. I came out of the closet thanks to the furry community.
Silver: I’m very fond of dragons, so that’s another fursona I have. I act differently depending on the character I’m in.
Silver: When you put the costume on, you can live out your inner animal. I feel that the costume relieves anxieties and fears that may otherwise prevent me from interacting with the outside world.
Ms. Night Love: What we do as furries can be compared to the feeling of buying a special jacket – a jacket in which you feel comfortable, stylish and attractive. Being in costume you get the same feeling as when you put your special jacket on before going out on a Friday night. It’s a sense of relief. When you’re at the office or in a more formal context you might wear something else, but in that special jacket, you feel like yourself. You could say that we all wear costumes all the time, and that we adapt our costumes to the environment we’re in, in order for us to be able to function with others.
Lavender Frost: When I put on my costume, I feel relief from everyday struggles. My fursona doesn’t pay bills.
Mango: Your fursona is created from scratch. As my fursona, I’m not limited to the role that I’ve been assigned and to a large extent lack power and control over. In ordinary life, we do not have the opportunity to choose what we look like, which gender we are assigned, what socio-economic class we belong to, or our sexual orientation. As a furry, I can be someone that I myself designed and feel completely comfortable with.
Otter: Being a furry has changed my life in many ways, it’s a kind of parallel reality. I’m thinking of all the friends I’ve made here, people who care for me. I’m thinking of all the people who, thanks to the open environment, can be themselves. In reality, if I meet friends on the street, I feel like everyone is wearing masks. We adapt to each other in a sometimes unhealthy way. In a way it’s paradoxical, how by putting your suit on, you liberate yourself from the social masks we’re all wearing.
Carro: With the fursuit on, I don’t have to think as much about how I act, I’m not as self-conscious and worried. I feel more free with the suit on than in real life.
Lavender frost: Lavender is a descendant of a royal family who was banished for reasons that I do not want to go into. After he got banished he decided to go on an adventure, he wanted to do things with his life. Out in the world, he searched for treasures and other things. On one adventure journey he goes up to the northernmost north. There, he finds a snowflake-like artefact, which he picks up, and it turns out that it holds a curse: a Nordic bear demon that attacks him. Lavender absorbs the demon and manages to balance the two roles. He’s now Lavender Frost. He has two sides, a bit like The Hulk.
Mango: In the past I’ve been isolated and scared. Within the furry community, I’ve found a welcoming family. I do not exaggerate when I say I would not have been alive if it weren’t for the furry community.
| Photography | Erik Gustafsson |
| Diary notes by | Lavender Frost, Miss Night Love, Carro, Silver, Mango, Mastrogall, Otter |