The Lens

Transgender Teen Escapes Abuse, Discovers Multi-Million Dollar Art Career

It’s no coincidence that the word paint begins with pain. Expression is laborious; we contort our muscles, skin and appendages to externalize the turbulence roiling in our souls.

But one’s person distress is another’s epiphany, unfurling into a roadmap that guides fellow travelers from trauma to triumph.

Such is the case with Victor Langlois. Better known by his pseudonym FEWOCiOUS, Victor has documented his ascension from embattled youth to empowered artist.

He tells Christie’s auction house that the ages “12 and 13 were kind of a blur. I ran away from that bad household and I didn’t really get footing until I turned 14. And that’s when I really got into art heavily.”

In fact, drawing was a literal escape for Victor. He would bury his face in his sketchpad in order “to avoid eye contact” with would-be bullies.

Unfortunately, menace was all around him. After fleeing an abusive mother who “told me if I ever cut my hair, she’d never want to see me again,” Victor took up residence with his grandmother. He was physically stable but emotionally adrift.

Painting became Victor’s safe space. “Art was the one place where I could say everything.”

But some people still weren’t listening. His grandmother urged him to be a lawyer in order to make a solid living, but Victor got the last laugh, and it’s taking him all the way to the bank.

Victor became an overnight multimedia mogul, earning $2.16 million for his crypto creations at a recent auction.

Even in the face of unimaginable success, he stays focused on his art’s enduring impact. “Hopefully, maybe one day, a collector will be just in their house, looking at it, and reflect on their life and their journeys and what they had to go through.”

The jagged road of Victor’s voyage is culminating into a placid clearing where he can see the world anew… and we can view him through the lens of survivor and savior.

“Infinite percent, art has saved my life,” concludes Victor. But even that is an understatement. He has potentially saved the lives of countless other trans kids striving to make a connection, one click, brushstroke or stanza at a time.

Leave a Comment
Share
Published by
Kevin Perry

Recent Posts

Horribly Funny

Does the “most wonderful time of year” have you feeling frazzled, frenzied and, okay we’ll…

8 hours ago

Gay Men’s Chorus of Los Angeles Presents: Holiday Legends

The Gay Men’s Chorus of Los Angeles (GMCLA) always packs in the hits, and their…

8 hours ago

Gay‑larious Holiday Laugh Festival

Get ready to deck the halls with punchlines and laughter when NYC’s funniest LGBTQ+ comedians…

8 hours ago

Jinkx & DeLa Holiday Show

The holidays are about love, family, connection — and if we’re being real — a…

8 hours ago

Up to Snow Good at the Ultimate Gay Ski Week – Elevation 2026

Drop your speedos, pull on your long johns, gay ski season is upon us!  Search…

8 hours ago

The Synonymous STYLE and FASHION of MILAN and ARMANI

Over the course of a fifty-year career, Giorgio Armani’s sleek design sensibility has embodied the…

8 hours ago