Dëni Mustafa

Born in 1977 in Samara, Russia, Dëni Mustafa is an activist artist, film-maker and video-maker. After graduating from Samara University with a degree in theatre direction, he first worked as a designer for a newspaper and a magazine. In 2001, he moved to Moscow and began working for publishing houses and advertising agencies. He has made several short films and taken part in the Moscow Short Film Festival and Cinefantom. A figure of artistic and political opposition in Russia for the past fifteen years, he criticises the Russian authorities through his work and his demonstrations. In 2010, he organised an illegal exhibition called Communal Block, and held a solitary picket outside the Church of the Holy Trinity in protest against Article 282 of the Russian Criminal Code, which is regularly used against opponents of the regime. In 2021, he led an action written in Braille in the center of Moscow. In 2022, to mark Russia Day, he organised an anti-war action entitled Today is not my day near the Ministry of Defence in Moscow. He spent 15 days in a special detention center and was fined by the court. He fled Russia in 2022. He is a member of the Agency of Artists in Exile.