Minnesota fine artist Mischa Gore is competing in the 2026 Face of Halloween contest with “One Wish Obsession,” a horror portrait inspired by the separation from Gore’s wife, Monstera, who lives in Aberdeen, Scotland. The $13,000 cash prize, Gore said, would go entirely toward a UK spouse visa.
Public voting opened Oct. 12, 2026, and the final round closes Dec. 17, 2026. The winner is scheduled to be announced by Jan. 14, 2027.
The image shows a vintage CRT television dripping in candle wax, set before a wall of photographs, maps, lithographs and drawings of Monstera. On the screen, Monstera presses her palm to the glass while Gore reaches toward her. The two hands almost meet.
“The CRT television represents the screens that connect us while reminding us of the physical distance between us,” Gore said. “We video call every single day, it’s not ideal but we make it work.”
A wish, taken literally
Gore conceived the piece after watching the 2025 horror film “Obsession” by Curry Barker, which centers on a “One Wish Willow” that can grant any wish. Gore asked what she would wish for. “My answer was immediate,” Gore said. “I would wish to be with my wife.”
Horror, Gore said, offered the right language for the experience. “It allowed me to explore the desperation, the fixation, the claustrophobia of waiting,” Gore said.
Each element carries meaning, according to Gore. More than 200 candles were melted to build what Gore describes as an altar, “a place where longing becomes ritual.” The wall reflects how an absent person occupies everyday life. “You collect images, plan routes, calculate costs, and search for ways forward,” Gore said.
Gore assembled the set over roughly two weeks using objects from a personal collection, including a human skull, animal bones Gore harvested and processed, a mask bought in Naples, Italy, and a porcelain doll Gore rescued from a burning building. Friend Olivia Olson created the special-effects makeup, which included glass-like prosthetics made from broken CD cases and took six hours. Friend Jes Salazar photographed the final scene during a shoot of about two hours.
How the contest works
The competition is run by Colossal, a professional fundraising company, and horror actor Kane Hodder, who played Jason Voorhees in several “Friday the 13th” films. Winners are chosen by public vote across successive elimination rounds, and votes reset at the start of each round. Each person gets one free vote every 24 hours and can buy additional votes, with proceeds going to the Starlight Children’s Foundation.
Entrants are sorted into thousands of smaller brackets. In previous tournament tracks, Gore said, the contest began with as many as 3,136 groups of roughly 70 contestants, or more than 219,000 people. The official rules are posted on the contest website, and Gore’s entry appears on the contest’s page for Gore.
The main prize includes the $13,000 honorarium, a feature in Rue Morgue magazine and a ghost hunt with Hodder. A separate Kane’s Pick prize is open to eligible competitors who reach the quarterfinals.
An unplanned long-distance marriage
Gore and Monstera, a transgender woman, met through a web of friends. In 2019, while Gore studied fine art at the Bauhaus in Weimar, Germany, a mutual friend invited both to the Subkult music festival in Sweden. They stayed in touch for years, then reconnected at a friend’s wedding in 2024 and fell in love.
Monstera traveled from Scotland to Minnesota, and the couple married Sept. 19, 2024. They spent six months together in the state, riding horses in Little Falls, ice skating at Christmas, visiting the Minnesota Renaissance Festival and the Minnesota State Fair, and camping near Duluth.
“Getting to bond with her new family here in MN, who all love and accept her unconditionally was a very powerful experience for her,” Gore said. Monstera’s family in London did not support her when she came out, according to Gore.
Three refusals
The couple’s attempt to settle in Scotland has stalled. Gore applied for a UK spouse visa on March 25, 2025, without a lawyer. It was refused May 15, 2025, because the application did not meet the financial requirement. The application considered Monstera’s earnings, not Gore’s, Gore said.
Gore then applied for a visitor visa on July 1, 2025, hoping to stay for several months while Monstera worked toward the income threshold. That application was refused Aug. 1, 2025. A second visitor application, submitted in May 2026 to request two weeks around Monstera’s birthday, was refused May 11, 2026. Gore said neither visitor refusal carried a right of appeal.
After the third refusal, Gore hired a UK immigration lawyer. The lawyer advised that further applications of other types are likely to be refused while the spouse visa refusal remains on record, Gore said. Gore also said Monstera does not feel safe traveling to the United States given the current immigration climate.
The couple plans to file another spouse visa application with legal help in December 2027, with the goal of Gore moving to Scotland in early 2028. Monstera, who organizes an alternative LGBTQ+ club night and drag show called Eclipse in Aberdeen and has DJed for Torture Garden events across the United Kingdom, continues working toward the financial requirement.
“I understand that immigration rules exist for a reason,” Gore said. “But I have tried repeatedly to follow the legal process, provide evidence, and do everything asked of me.”
Gore said legal recognition and the ability to live together are different things. “These requirements may look abstract on a government form, but their consequences are lived in bedrooms, kitchens, airports, and video calls,” Gore said.
Gore, who studied at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design and has worked with local artists on projects tied to Black Lives Matter, ICE OUT and Bans Off Our Bodies, said the piece should not be read as a tragedy.
“We’re two married people trying to build a life together,” Gore said. “Until we can do that, I’m making art out of the distance.”
Voting continues daily through Dec. 17, 2026.
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