Nadya Tolokonnikova

Biography

Nadezhda Andreyevna "Nadya" Tolokonnikova (Russian: Надежда Андреевна "Надя" Толоконникова, IPA: [nɐˈdʲeʐdə ɐnˈdrʲejɪvnə ˈnadʲə təlɐˈkonʲːɪkəvə]; born November 7, 1989) 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. 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. While jailed, 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". Russia's Ministry of Justice added Tolokonnikova to its list of "foreign agents" in 2021, and to their international wanted list in 2023. Currently she lives outside Russia, but does not disclose where for safety reasons.

== Early life and education ==

Tolokonnikova was born on November 7, 1989, in the industrial city of Norilsk, Russia, to parents Andrey Stepanovich Tolokonnikov and Yekaterina Voronina. Her parents divorced when she was five years old. In her late school years, she was active in amateur modern literature and art projects, organized by the Novoye Literaturnoye Obozreniye. In 2007, at age 17, Tolokonnikova moved to Moscow, and enrolled in the philosophy department of the Moscow State University.

== Art Collectives ==

=== Early activism and Voina (2007–2011) === Tolokonnikova and Pyotr Verzilov joined the Voina art collective in 2007 and participated in several of their provocative art performances. 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. 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. On March 3, 2008, she was detained by police at a dissenters march in Moscow. Tolokonnikova was among the Voina members who disrupted a trial for the director of the Andrei Sakharov Center in 2009. 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". She also took part in a series of actions Operation Kiss Garbage, (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.

=== Pussy Riot (2011–present) ===

==== Formation and early actions ==== Tolokonnikova created Pussy Riot in 2011. As described by journalist Masha 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 comrade Yekaterina Samutsevich: shouted lyrics over a backing track, which became Pussy Riot's first song "Kill the Sexist." As Gessen has written, "Pussy Riot is not a band. Pussy Riot is a precise weapon, aimed directly at Putin." The group emerged from the Russian activist and art scene, with Tolokonnikova bringing her experience from Voina 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 the Russian 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 rid Russia 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.