Does a dark sense of humour help you survive Yakutia, Russia – the coldest place on Earth? Maybe, and for Natalia Egorova, better known by her artist name Xomeless, it has shaped a vibrant, macabre artistic style that fuses death, humour, and resilience.
Xomeless is a Russian artist whose works pull inspiration from the harshness of her homeland, reimagining it in bold, darkly funny illustrations. Her art merges punk, death metal, and comic book aesthetics, creating grotesque yet playful worlds. In her hands, the bleakness of life is reframed with an absurd, vibrant energy that captures the chaos of modern existence.
The works often pop with vibrant colours and it’s a stark contrast to the wintry monotony you find near the North Pole. While despite the vibrancy death is present in all the works, after all living in an extreme environment where stepping outside at the wrong time could kill you is likely to make you more aware of your mortality than if you lived somewhere more temperate.
Her characters often wear little clothing and they have flames coming out of their eyes, gaping wounds or being sawn in half. Yet they also indulge in everyday activities, a man buried in a coffin scrolls through his phone while another breaks the rules of cinema etiquette by placing his feet over the seat in front while on a phone call. The figures in her work may be grotesque, but they’re also relatable – they crack on, trudging through life not because they want to, but because, like the rest of us, they have no other choice.
Beneath the surface humour lies a biting critique of contemporary life. Xomeless populates her scenes with cracked shop windows, floating skulls in swimming pools, and news reports proclaiming it’s a “mad world.” Television screens blare the “daily deadly news,” while her figures continue snapping selfies, shopping, or just surviving. The dissonance is striking: we’re painfully aware of global crises – climate change, war, and societal decay – yet powerless to stop them, so we distract ourselves with daily life.
Many of the central characters in her works remain anonymous, wearing skull masks, and it feels like that’s because they could stand in for any of us. They remind us of our vulnerability, that life is precarious, and death is always just one misstep or illness away. Yet even amidst this, there’s a spark of humour and absurdity – an invitation to laugh at the chaos and find joy where we can.
Xomeless doesn’t create pure nihilism. Her world is undeniably dark, but it’s also full of sly smiles and relatable struggles. This mix of humour, horror, and humanity makes her work memorable: a surreal critique of modern life that mirrors our collapsing world while urging us to keep going, maybe even with a laugh.
You can find more works by Xomeless on her Instagram and her website.
