Nadezhda Andreyevna "Nadya"Tolokonnikova (Russian:Надежда Андреевна "Надя" Толоконникова,IPA:[nɐˈdʲeʐdəɐnˈdrʲejɪvnəˈnadʲətəlɐˈkonʲːɪkəvə]; born November 7, 1989)[1][2] is a Russian musician, conceptual artist, and politicalactivist. She is a founding member of the feminist groupPussy Riot, and has a history of political activism with the street art groupVoina.[3]
Tolokonnikova walking with Pyotr Verzilov (L.) in the June 2007Dissenters' March
Tolokonnikova was born on November 7, 1989, in the industrial city ofNorilsk, Russia, to parents Andrey Stepanovich Tolokonnikov and Yekaterina Voronina.[10] Her parentsdivorced when she was five years old.[11] In her late school years, she was active in amateur modern literature and art projects, organized by theNovoye Literaturnoye Obozreniye.[12] In 2007, at age 17, Tolokonnikova moved toMoscow,[13] and enrolled in thephilosophy department of theMoscow State University.
Tolokonnikova andPyotr Verzilov joined theVoina art collective in 2007 and participated in several of their provocative art performances.[14] In February 2008, they were involved in the "Fuck for the heir Puppy Bear!" performance in which couples were filmed engaging in sexual acts in the Timiryazev State Biology Museum in Moscow.[15][16] The performance was said to be intended as a kind ofsatire of then PresidentDmitry Medvedev's call for increased reproduction. She was in the late stages ofpregnancy at the time.[17]
On March 3, 2008, she was detained by police at a dissenters march in Moscow.[18] Tolokonnikova was among the Voina members whodisrupted a trial for the director of the Andrei Sakharov Center in 2009.[19][20] But later, according to the "Rossiyskaya Gazeta", together with Pyotr Verzilov were expelled from Voina "for provocation and surrender of activists of the group to the police".[21]
She also took part in a series of actionsOperation Kiss Garbage,[22] (Russian:"Лобзай мусора", roughly translated as "Kiss a pig") from January through March 2011. This project comprised female members' kissing policewomen in Moscow metro stations and on the streets.[23]
Tolokonnikova created Pussy Riot in 2011. As described by journalistMasha Gessen, the group began as "a fictional band, invented for the finale of a slide-show presentation" at a September 2011 conference for opposition groups. Tolokonnikova had recently immersed herself in feminist and queer theory and decided to use her opportunity to speak at the conference to "compensate for Russia's lack of a feminist movement, a body of social theory, or a Riot Grrrl legacy." She ended her presentation by playing a noisy recording she had made with ex-Voina comradeYekaterina Samutsevich: shouted lyrics over a backing track, which became Pussy Riot's first song "Kill the Sexist."[24]
As Gessen has written, "Pussy Riot is not a band. Pussy Riot is a precise weapon, aimed directly at Putin."[25] The group emerged from the Russian activist and art scene, with Tolokonnikova bringing her experience fromVoina to the new collective. Pussy Riot's early actions focused on provocative political performances in public spaces, using punk music and performance art to critique the Russian government and its relationship with theRussian Orthodox Church.
Punk Prayer - Cathedral of Christ the Savior performance (2012)
On February 21, 2012, Tolokonnikova and other members of Pussy Riot entered the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, and danced on the altar, asking Mother Mary to become a feminist, and to ridRussia of Putin. A criminal case was opened on February 26 against Tolokonnikova and two other members who had participated. The "Punk Prayer" action was called one of the greatest works of art of the 21st Century by the Guardian.[26]
Tolokonnikova at a protest on February 4, 2012Tolokonnikova at the Moscow Tagansky District Court
On March 3, Tolokonnikova and Pussy Riot co-memberMaria Alyokhina were identified by the Russian authorities. They were arrested on March 4 after being accused ofhooliganism. They first denied being members of the group and started ahunger strike in protest against being held in jail away from their young children.[27] They were held without bail and were formally charged on June 4 with the indictment running to 2,800 pages.[28] While there was speculation that Canadian authorities might attempt to intervene because Tolokonnikova is a Canadian permanent resident, such intervention did not occur.[2][29]The trial of the Pussy Riot members started on July 30, 2012, and ended in August 2012 with a verdict. On August 17, 2012, Tolokonnikova, together with co-membersMaria Alyokhina andYekaterina Samutsevich, were convicted ofhooliganism motivated by religious hatred and sentenced to two years of imprisonment.[30]
Tolokonnikova was serving her two-year sentence in theIK-14 women'spenal colony near the settlement of Partsa (Russian:Парца, Явасское городское поселение),Republic ofMordovia.[31] On September 23, 2013, she went on hunger strike over prison conditions[32] as well as alleged threats against her life made by prison staff.[33][34][35] Her letter about the conditions of the women in the penal colony asserted that the women have no rights, that the prisoners must work 16–17 hours and sleep 3–4 hours a day, and that they have a day off every 8th week. Further, she claimed that when prisoners complain they are punished, and that when they complain about the treatment of other prisoners they are punished even more severely. Claiming that collective punishment is frequent, she also stated that the prisoners are sometimes beaten with a particular focus on hitting the kidneys. Another asserted punishment consists of keeping a prisoner outdoors in the cold without sufficient clothing. Most of what she reported has been affirmed by other sources.[36][37][38]
While imprisoned, she exchanged letters with filmmaker, philosopher, and cultural criticSlavoj Žižek discussing democracy and her activism.[39] Their correspondence was arranged by the French philosopherMichel Eltchaninoff, and their 11 letters were compiled into a short book,Comradely Greetings: The Prison Letters of Nadya and Slavoj, published byVerso Books in 2014.[40][41]
In late September 2013, Tolokonnikova was hospitalised after going without food for a week.[42][43][44] She was treated in the prison's medical ward; authorities did not release more specific details.[45][46][47] On October 21, 2013, she was transferred to another prison; her whereabouts remained unknown for several weeks.[48][49] On November 5, 2013, it was reported that Tolokonnikova had been transferred to IK-50, a prison located nearNizhny Ingash, approximately 300 kilometres fromKrasnoyarsk,Siberia.[50][51] On November 15, she was again able to communicate with her husband through a video call from the prison hospital.[52]
On the afternoon of December 23, 2013, Tolokonnikova was released from a prison hospital inKrasnoyarsk, where she was being treated for an unspecified illness.[53] According to Yelena Pimonenko, senior prosecutor assistant of theKrasnoyarsk Krai, Tolokonnikova was released because the article "hooliganism" of the Russian Criminal Code fell under the newly introducedamnesty bill.[4] Putin's amnesty was seen by the freed prisoners and numerous critics as a propaganda stunt[54][55][56] as Russia prepared to host the2014 Winter Olympics in February.[57][58]
About her release, Tolokonnikova said: "Releasing people just a few months before their term expires is a cosmetic measure ... that includes the case ofKhodorkovsky, who didn't have much time left on his prison term. This is ridiculous. While Putin refuses to release those people who really needed it. It is a disgusting and cynical act",[59] and urged countries to boycott the 2014 Winter Olympics.[60] She and Alyokhina said they would form a human rights movement for prison reforms.[54][57] On March 6, 2014, Tolokonnikova and Alyokhina were assaulted and injured at a fast food outlet by local youths inNizhny Novgorod.[61] After their release, Tolokonnikova and Alyokhina founded a penal and judicial-themed media outletMediaZona.[62]
In February 2014, Tolokonnikova andMaria Alyokhina were detained inSochi by the Adler Police in connection with an alleged hotel theft. They were released without charge.[63] On February 19, footage surfaced showing Tolokonnikova and the other Pussy Riot members being attacked withnagaikas byCossacks, who were helping in patrolling Sochi during the Winter Olympics.[64]
In 2022, Tolokonnikova met with Secretary of StateAntony Blinken to discuss freedom of press worldwide, and in particular the future of independent media in Russia, such asMediazona.[65]Maria Zakharova, Spokeswoman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, reacted to this meeting on her official Telegram channel.[66]
In late March 2023, the Russian Interior Ministry put Tolokonnikova on their wanted list and opened an investigation against her for allegedly having insulted religious feelings of believers.[67][68] On November 21, 2023, her arrest was orderedin absentia by a Moscow court.[69]
In 2016, she wrote theautobiographical bookHow to Start a Revolution, published byPenguin Publishing Group.[98] In 2018, her bookRead & Riot: A Pussy Riot Guide to Activism was published byHarperCollins.[99] It includes a reading list curated by Tolokonnikova of 123 books, articles, and tracts on protest theory.[100]
In 2021, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova announced that she had started an account on OnlyFans, a paid membership site that was known for allowing women to create and sell pornography with their own image. Tolokonnikova wrote on Twitter, "Crazy Empress." According to her OnlyFans account, a subscription to view racy images of the Pussy Riot leader cost $10 a month. The account was created in July 2021.[101]
Tolokonnikova has been involved in several initiatives to support Ukraine during theRusso-Ukrainian War. In 2022, she co-organized Ukraine DAO, which raised $6.7 million for Ukraine's defenses through the sale of an NFT of Ukraine's flag.[102] She also participated in another fundraising initiative alongside artistsShepard Fairey andJeffrey Deitch that raised money for the Armed Forces of Ukraine.[103]
In 2022, Tolokonnikova founded Unicorn DAO, a collector'sdecentralized autonomous organization (DAO) dedicated to collecting and incubatingnon-fungible tokens created by female,non-binary, andLGBTQ+ artists inWeb3.[104][105] The organization's goal is "rebalancing the scales for women-identifying and non-binary artists in a space that is already reflective of problematic gender norms".[106][107]
2020 – A collaborative serigraph edition with poster artistZoltron is in the permanent collection of LACMA,[127] as well as in The Victoria Albert Museum.[128]
2019 – Best Art of the 21st Century – ThePunk Prayer political art piece from 2012 was ranked in the top 5 of the Best Art of the 21st Century byThe Guardian.[129]
2022 – Outstanding Award byOutRight Action International for her effort raising $7M in donation for Ukraine with the NFT Project Ukraine DAO. Given remotely at the Celebration of Courage Gala.[130][131]
Tolokonnikova, Nadya (2018).Read and Riot: A Pussy Riot Guide to Activism (hardcover ed.).HarperOne. 256 pp.ISBN978-0062741585. Also published asRules for Rulebreakers: A Pussy Riot Guide to Protest.
^Adrian Searle; Jonathan Jones; Sean O'Hagan; Hettie Judah (September 17, 2019)."The best art of the 21st century".The Guardian. RetrievedDecember 5, 2025.
^Smallwood, Christine (July 2014)."New Books".Harper's. Vol. 329, no. 1, 970. Harper's Foundation. p. 87.Archived from the original on February 13, 2018. RetrievedFebruary 13, 2018.(subscription required)
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