Wk 6 - Artist - Nadezhda Tolokonnikova

Nadezhda Tolokonnikova

About the Artist

Nadezhda Andreyevna Tolokonnikova (nicknamed "Nadya Tolokno"; born November 7, 1989), is a Russian conceptual artist and political activist. She is a member of the anti-Putinist punk rock group Pussy Riot, and has a history of political activism with the controversial street art group Voina. On August 17, 2012, she was convicted of "hooliganism motivated by religious hatred" after a performance in Moscow Cathedral of Christ the Saviour and sentenced to two years' imprisonment. On December 23, 2013, she was released early with another Pussy Riot member Maria Alyokhina under a newly passed amnesty bill dedicated to the 20th anniversary of the Russian constitution.

Tolokonnikova was recognized as a political prisoner by the Russian human rights group "Union of Solidarity with Political Prisoners". Amnesty International named her a prisoner of conscience due to "the severity of the response of the Russian authorities"

Analysis

On Feb. 21, 2012, members of the group were kicked out of Moscow’s Cathedral of Christ the Savior for performing a “punk prayer” against Vladimir Putin. Tolokonnikova and bandmate Maria Alyokhina were later arrested and charged with hooliganism. Their two year imprisonment shot the group to global fame and they became a symbol for the opposition movement.

Five years after the infamous arrest, Tolokonnikova, still working hard to resist oppression, had a wealth of advice for the rapidly mobilizing movement aiming to resist President Donald Trump.

Protests against Trump, organized by people who say he campaigned for office on a platform that promoted bigotry, racism and sexism, began after his Jan. 20 inauguration and haven't stopped since, as scandals and legal challenges rock the White House nearly every day. The large number of people speaking out against the Trump have emboldened Tolokonnikova, who spoke to TIME while in New York working on a music short film. Action from "all sorts of groups of people," will carry the resistance, she said just before the five-year anniversary of her Moscow arrest.

Tolokno says she wanted the video to send a message of what she thought would happen if Donald Trump was elected president. "I really felt like a lot of people treated it as a joke," Tolokno said. "What I was trying to say then was that it's not [a joke], and I was right. I didn't want to be right."

Nadya says her inspiration for the project was the fact that getting rid of these institutions puts lives in jeopardy. "I'm angry that instead of protecting our rights governments are ceasing them. I'm sick of it," she tells Teen Vogue. "Trump's deranged administration is cutting spends on public institutions that provide us opportunity to be safe and healthy, such as Planned Parenthood, such as shelters for those who're suffering from domestic violence. We could save people's lives, instead of that we're feeding wars and corruption with our public money."

According to Tolokonnikova, the next four years of Trump's presidency provides time for people to "shape an alternative vision of how government should work in the future" and invent a new model for running the country. She also warned against writing off those who voted for Trump, and instead advocated for communicating with voters who had previously felt cut off.

"People who voted this way have their point, and sometimes it can by ugly, terrible," she said. "But they're desperate. Sometimes desperate people, they kill each other."