Freshmind.

Nadya Tolokonnikova, co-founder of Pussy Riot and conceptual artist, has been placed on Russia’s Wanted List for “criminal activity” following the release of her latest artwork related to Vladimir Putin earlier this year. In August 2022, Tolokonnikova collaborated with 11 other women to create the performance piece “Putin’s Ashes,” which involved setting fire to a 10-foot effigy portrait of the Russian president in the desert while wearing balaclavas.

During her first solo exhibition at Jeffrey Deitch’s Los Angeles gallery in January, Tolokonnikova showcased a short film of the performance, which ended with her bottling the ashes from the burnt portrait. Shortly after the exhibition, Tolokonnikova discovered she was on the Wanted List and that friends and family had been detained by the police.

Tolokonnikova has faced legal trouble before, including in 2012 when she and two other Pussy Riot members were sentenced to two years in prison for a performance at a Moscow cathedral. Earlier this month, Russia opened a criminal investigation against Tolokonnikova for allegedly “insulting religious sensibilities” with an NFT she sold in 2021. The NFT featured a hand-drawn image of a Virgin Mary resembling a vulva on top of digitized records of Tolokonnikova’s prison sentencing documents.

Despite the ongoing legal challenges, Tolokonnikova remains defiant. “Any truly political artist risks their personal safety for the sake of their art,” she said. “It is not a new concept for me. They threaten us but we cannot show fear.” Tolokonnikova also emphasized her commitment to using her art as a tool for political activism and her enthusiasm for cryptocurrency as a means of continuing to fight for her beliefs.