In 1989, after being accused of anti-Soviet agitation and propaganda as one of the original members of the first opposition party, Democratic Union (Russia), and co-publishers of one of its newspapers, she fled to Vienna, Austria.

[5][6] After several attempts, Jermolaewa was accepted as a student at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, where she studied in the class of Peter Kogler.

[1] Jermolaewa's conceptual practice incorporates a wide range of media: video, installation, painting, performance, photography, and sculpture.

[5][6] The investigation was closely followed by the United States government-funded Radio Liberty and politicians and human rights activists constantly talked about the fate of Yaremenko, Gadasik, and Jermolaewa.

In their first three weeks in Austria, Jermolaewa and her partners spent their nights on benches in the Wien Westbahnhof railway station, without food, before they ended up in a refugee camp in Traiskirchen.