Nadya Tolokonnikova is a conceptual artist, activist, and writer whose work operates at the intersection of performance, politics, and radical resistance. She is internationally known as a founding member of the feminist protest collective Pussy Riot, whose actions confront authoritarianism, state violence, and the suppression of free expression in Russia and beyond.

Tolokonnikova first came to global attention in 2012 following Pussy Riot’s protest performance inside Moscow’s Cathedral of Christ the Savior, an act that resulted in her arrest and imprisonment. Her subsequent incarceration, and the global campaign for her release, cemented her role as a defining cultural figure of contemporary political dissent. Rather than silencing her practice, imprisonment became a central catalyst for her work, sharpening its focus on systems of power, punishment, and control.

Since her release, Tolokonnikova has expanded her artistic language across mediums including performance, music, video, installation, and painting. Her visual works frequently incorporate symbols associated with protest, most notably the balaclava, recast as intimate, vulnerable, and deeply human objects. Through this transformation, she challenges the viewer to reconsider the aesthetics of resistance and the bodies that carry its risks.

Tolokonnikova’s work has been exhibited internationally and is included in major institutional collections. She has collaborated with artists, musicians, and activists across disciplines, positioning her practice within a global network of cultural resistance. In parallel with her artistic output, she is a vocal advocate for prison reform and human rights, drawing on her lived experience within the Russian penal system.

At its core, Tolokonnikova’s practice insists that art is not separate from life or politics. Her work stands as both a document of defiance and a call to action, asserting creativity as a tool for survival, solidarity, and systemic change.