I'm Gry Ellebjerg, a Swedish journalist and photographer. After my parents and my cat Doris died, the world I knew was gone. Sometimes life is not logical. You are struck by a fever, an urge you must follow without knowing why. To me, it was as necessary as eating and drinking to find what stories and pictures I had in me—if I had any at all. I quit my job and hit the Pink Road to look for lesbians. I desperately wanted to know how they lived their lives.

To me, lesbians are a symbol of practical democracy. Like no other, they have been breaking down wall after wall of patriarchy in a way that has never been done before. That is worth an investigation. I also wanted to see if it was possible to work in a different way. Without planning any interviews beforehand, I did it the "gut way." With three Interrail cards in my pocket, I simply showed up, connected, and had heart-to-heart conversations without too many filters. I believe my need to do things from the gut had to do with my state of mind. I was in grief, and grief makes you raw.

Ever since I started traveling in the footsteps of lesbians, it has been an overwhelming experience. Instead of entering countries, I enter different queer rooms. If you put them next to each other, they build a country of their own with similar challenges and structures. The lesbian world is very international. Every time we gather, it's like a Eurovision rehearsal. In my own hometown of Malmö, I met love refugees from Russia, Poland, Italy and the USA. Against professional advice, I decided to write it in English—a language that is not mine. At first, it was terrifying to lose control, but perhaps my cracks of imperfection were what I needed. Writing in English was a shortcut to no bullshit.

When I left my job as a local editor after 17 years, I told my colleagues I wanted to write about the human experience of what it means to be alive. I was on and off the Pink Road in Europe for three years. I can't tell you how many times I thought I was off track. Now, I am in the process of writing a book. To my great surprise, my collection of stories all comes from the raw reality of the human experience. It's very much about individuals who want to break free and live their lives as true as they can. I had a complex relationship with my parents. I was lucky to reconnect in the end. I never knew how they felt deep down about my sexuality. This project is my way of letting them in. They have been with me every day.