GREATEST: SONYA BY SONYA

Sonya Mohova is a Ukrainian dancer and model who’s gained recognition over recent years as a burgeoning performance artist. Emerging from a background in classical ballet, she shares her own compelling choreography and inventive self-portraits with her ever-increasing legions of Instagram followers. Now living in London after graduating from ballet school in Kyiv, the 22-year-old has all but turned her back on ballet. More punk than classical, Mohova’s personal style is as transgressive as her performances are increasingly avant-garde. And while she may be beautiful, she’s not merely beautiful. “I’m really trying to change the perception of me, because I’m completely the opposite of just this cute ballet girl,” she says. “I’m an artist. I worked hard all my life and I’m still working—I’m just using Instagram as a tool for the art I’m trying to make now.”

Emerging from the rigors of ballet school and dedicating herself solely to self-expression and art, her shoot for this issue of GREATEST is the apotheosis of her practice so far. As art director, photographer and star, Mohova is the ultimate auteur, creating a vision of herself, by herself. During a conversation over Zoom, she explains, “I’m not gonna call it drag, but I’ve been really inspired by drag. And that’s how I see myself in the future […] crazy outfits, makeup and hair, because this is how I am inside.”