We’re Trystan (artist name: Azrai) & Lou, the queer artist duo behind StarWhispers, Asunderland, and now: Escape to The Last Threshold. Unsafe housing, immigration uncertainty, and medical fallout have trapped us deep in survival mode. As transgender immigrants, we face barriers that make the impact of these setbacks hit much harder than they should.

Above: A portal to the Upside Down in the basement "closet" of our rental.

Chapter 1 – $26,000 CAD

This goal covers immediate survival: emergency relocation, urgent medical bills, and legal costs tied to malpractice and housing injustice.

Chapter 2 – $102,000 CAD total

This goal covers the full mid-term medical costs from mold exposure and dental injury, a complete move into interim safe housing and essential legal costs for related malpractice and housing injustice cases.

This amount also includes the costs associated with the immigration process, whether that process continues in Canada or we are forced to relocate again.

A few more details:

Costs we had no way of predicting have piled up to a point that we cannot unbury ourselves, such as; a newly implemented requirement of $18,000.00 in untouched savings in order to immigrate to Canada- an unprecedented imposition which was not in place when we initially planned to submit our applications. Landlords have repeatedly demanded a deposit of at least $14,000.00 (6+ months of rent) upfront, illegally, because of our immigrant status and lack of Canadian credit history- regardless of proof of income. (We are in a poor position to negotiate or enforce our rights as we have been turned away from even viewing properties due to our immigrant status, and landlords are known to look up tribunal/legal records of prospective tenants.)

A dentist gave Trystan extensive dental injuries shortly after arriving in Canada. These have severely impacted his ability to work- work which his immigration depends upon entirely. These injuries will immediately cost at least $5,000.00 CAD in order to avoid relapse of potentially life threatening infections, and tens of thousands more to fully treat. We are barred from healthcare access for a prolonged period due to these immigration setbacks, keeping costs of even our daily medications for ADHD and our hormone therapy in the hundreds per month. These are just a few pieces of the pileup.

Above: medical imaging of a section of Trystan's teeth with several areas circled in red, and text that reads: "various emergencies- all from things like "Defective restorations!" Note: Some of these pictured restorations have already been re-treated, however these defective restorations span Trystan's entire mouth. And the "sinus spike," pictured below, remains permanently embedded in his maxillary sinuses from the ordeal.)

Being able to make it through this rough patch and pay the associated legal costs opens much needed doors for us.

This is the foundation that allows us to begin what we’re really working toward: a permanent refuge and community art space, wherever we're able to build it, documented and shared through our show. That's the next chapter for us.

Above: Garden Founder's Stone Concept by Trystan

Every gifter will be represented by a founder’s rune in this space: your name and/or a rune of your choice, carved, burned, or sculpted into a real physical spot on the refuge itself. A sculpture in the garden, stones in the walking paths, or wooden fences at our threshold. Your rune becomes part of the story, visible to everyone who crosses it.

More information about us, and our work, can be found on our website; StarWhispers