Nadezhda Andreyevna "Nadya" Tolokonnikova (Russian: Надежда Андреевна "Надя" Толоконникова, IPA:[nɐˈdʲeʐdəɐnˈdrʲejɪvnəˈnadʲətəlɐˈkonʲːɪkəvə]; born November 7, 1989)[1][2] is a Russian musician, conceptual artist, and political
activist. She is a founding member of the feminist group
Pussy Riot, and has a history of political activism with the street art group
Voina.[3]
On August 17, 2012, she was arrested for "
hooliganism motivated by religious hatred" after a performance in the
Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in
Moscow and was ultimately sentenced to two years' imprisonment. On December 23, 2013, she was released early alongside fellow Pussy Riot member
Maria Alyokhina under a newly passed
amnesty bill dedicated to the 20th anniversary of the
Russian constitution.[4]
Tolokonnikova was born on November 7, 1989, in the industrial city of
Norilsk, Russia, to parents Andrey Stepanovich Tolokonnikov and Yekaterina Voronina.[8] Her parents
divorced when she was five years old.[9] In her late school years, she was active in amateur modern literature and art projects, organized by the Novoye Literaturnoye Obozreniye.[10] In 2007, at age 17, Tolokonnikova moved to
Moscow,[11] and enrolled in the
philosophy department of the
Moscow State University.
Career
Tolokonnikova and
Pyotr Verzilov joined the
Voina art collective in 2007 and participated in several of their provocative art performances.[12] 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.[13][14] The performance was said to be intended as a kind of
satire of then President
Dmitry Medvedev's call for increased reproduction. She was in the late stages of
pregnancy at the time.[15]
On March 3, 2008, she was detained by police at a dissenters march in Moscow.[16] Tolokonnikova was among the Voina members who
disrupted a trial for the director of the Andrei Sakharov Center in 2009.[17][18] 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".[19]
She also took part in a series of actions
Operation Kiss Garbage,[20] (
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.[21]
Arrest and indictment
Following the "Punk Prayer" incident on February 21, 2012, a criminal case was opened on February 26 against the band members who had participated.[citation needed] On March 3, Tolokonnikova and Pussy Riot co-member
Maria Alyokhina were identified by the Russian authorities. They were arrested on March 4 after being accused of
hooliganism. They first denied being members of the group and started a
hunger strike in protest against being held in jail away from their young children.[22] They were held without bail and were formally charged on June 4 with the indictment running to 2,800 pages.[23] Although this did not ultimately occur, there was speculation that Canadian authorities might attempt to intervene because Tolokonnikova is a Canadian permanent resident.[2][24]
Court case and imprisonment
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-members
Maria Alyokhina and
Yekaterina Samutsevich, were convicted of
hooliganism motivated by religious hatred and sentenced to two year imprisonment.[25]
Tolokonnikova was serving the remainder of her two-year sentence in the IK-14 women's
penal colony near the settlement of Partsa (
Russian: Парца, Явасское городское поселение),
Republic of
Mordovia.[26] On September 23, 2013, she went on hunger strike over prison conditions,[27] as well as alleged threats against her life made by prison staff.[28][29][30] Her letter on the conditions of the women in the penal colony asserts 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 claims that if they complain, they are punished, and that if they complain over the treatment of other prisoners, they are punished even harder. Claiming that collective punishment is frequent, she also stated that the prisoners may be beaten with a particular focus on hitting the kidneys. Another punishment would consist of keeping a prisoner outdoors in the cold without sufficient clothing. Most of what she reports is affirmed by other sources.[31][32][33]
While imprisoned, she exchanged letters with filmmaker, philosopher, and cultural critic
Slavoj Žižek discussing democracy and her activism.[34] Their correspondence was arranged by the French philosopher
Michel Eltchaninoff, and their 11 letters were compiled into a short book, Comradely Greetings: The Prison Letters of Nadya and Slavoj, published by
Verso Books in 2014.[35][36]
In late September 2013, Tolokonnikova was hospitalised after going without food for a week.[37][38][39] She was treated in the prison's medical ward; authorities did not release more specific details.[40][41][42] On October 21, 2013, she was transferred to another prison; her whereabouts remained unknown for several weeks.[43][44] On November 5, 2013, it was reported that Tolokonnikova had been transferred to IK-50, a prison located near
Nizhny Ingash, approximately 300 kilometres from
Krasnoyarsk,
Siberia.[45][46] On November 15, she was again able to communicate with her husband through a video call from the prison hospital.[47]
Release
On the afternoon of December 23, 2013, Tolokonnikova was released from a prison hospital in
Krasnoyarsk, where she was being treated for an unspecified illness.[48] According to Yelena Pimonenko, senior prosecutor assistant of the
Krasnoyarsk Krai, Tolokonnikova was released because the article "hooliganism" of the Russian Criminal Code falls under the newly introduced
amnesty bill.[4] Putin's amnesty was seen by the freed prisoners and numerous critics as a propaganda stunt,[49][50][51] as Russia prepared to host the
2014 Winter Olympics in February.[52][53]
About this, Tolokonnikova said: "Releasing people just a few months before their term expires is a cosmetic measure ... that includes the case of
Khodorkovsky, 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",[54] and urged countries to boycott the 2014 Winter Olympics.[55] She and Alyokhina said they would form a human rights movement for prison reforms.[49][52] On March 6, 2014, Tolokonnikova and Alyokhina were assaulted and injured at a fast food outlet by local youths in
Nizhny Novgorod.[56] After release, Tolokonnikova and Alyokhina founded a penal and judicial-themed media outlet
MediaZona.[57]
Sochi detention
In February 2014, Tolokonnikova and
Maria Alyokhina were detained in
Sochi by the Adler Police in connection with an alleged hotel theft. They were released without charge.[58] On February 19, footage surfaced showing Tolokonnikova and the other Pussy Riot members being attacked with
nagaikas by
Cossacks, who were helping in patrolling Sochi during the Winter Olympics.[59]
2022 meeting with US State Department
Tolokonnikova met with Secretary of State
Antony Blinken to discuss freedom of press worldwide, and in particular the future of independent media in Russia, such as
Mediazona.[60]Maria Zakharova, Spokeswoman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, reacted to this meeting on her official Telegram channel.[61]
Works
In 2016, she wrote the
autobiographical book How to Start a Revolution, published by
Penguin Publishing Group.[62] Between 2018 and 2019, Tolokonnikova wrote music for and toured with the musical production Riot Days, based on the book of the same name by
Maria Alyokhina.[63] In 2018, her book Read & Riot: A Pussy Riot Guide to Activism was published by
HarperCollins.[64] It includes a reading list curated by Tolokonnikova of 123 books, articles, and tracts on protest theory.[65]
In 2022, Tolokonnikova founded Unicorn DAO, a collector's
decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) dedicated to collecting and incubating
non-fungible tokens created by female,
non-binary, and
LGBTQ+ artists in
Web3.[66][67] 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".[68] Unicorn DAO was launched following her work on Ukraine DAO, which raised $7M in
crypto for Ukraine at the start of the
Russo-Ukrainian War.[69][70]
On the Russian wanted list
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.[71][72] On Nov 21, 2023, she was arrested
in absentia by a Moscow court.[73]
Personal life
Tolokonnikova was previously married to
Pyotr Verzilov.[74][75] They have a daughter, who was born in 2008.[76]
2020 – A collaborative serigraph edition with poster artist
Zoltron is in the permanent collection of LACMA,[92] as well as in The Victoria Albert Museum.[93]
2019 – Best Art of the 21st Century – The Punk Prayer political art piece from 2012 was ranked in the top 5 of the Best Art of the 21st Century by The Guardian.[94]
2022 – Outstanding Award by
OutRight 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.[95][96]
Tolokonnikova, Nadya;
Žižek, Slavoj (2014). Comradely Greetings: The Prison Letters of Nadya and Slavoj (paperback ed.). Verso. 112 pp.
ISBN978-1781687734.
Tolokonnikova, Nadya (2018). Read and Riot: A Pussy Riot Guide to Activism (hardcover ed.).
HarperOne. 256 pp.
ISBN978-0062741585. Also published as Rules for Rulebreakers: A Pussy Riot Guide to Protest.
^Tolokonnikova, Nadezhda (September 23, 2013).
"Вы теперь всегда будете наказаны" [You will always be punished now].
Lenta.ru.
Archived from the original on September 24, 2013. Retrieved September 23, 2013.
^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. Retrieved February 13, 2018.(subscription required)