Artwork Description
Nadya Tolokonnikova – This art makes you a Pussy Riot member
Dimensions: 20 x 16″
Year: 2023
Medium: mixed media
Nadya Tolokonnikova is known internationally as the founder of the Russian feminist activist group Pussy Riot. She has instigated some of the most significant actions of social justice against Russian tyranny, including Pussy Riot’s Punk Prayer in the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow. Tolokonnikova was subsequently imprisoned in Siberia, where she was forced to sew Russian army uniforms. In true Tolokonnikova form, she turned the sewing skills against the regime that forced her to learn them, by creating her own anti-Putin artworks, such as “This art makes you a Pussy Riot member.” The resulting Putin’s Ashes artworks put Tolokonnikova on the international art stage as her first collectible museum and gallery artworks. They also earned her a Russian arrest warrant and a spot on Putin’s most wanted list. The art historical and political significance of these works is profound.