Pussy Riot's Nadya Tolokonnikova

The Great Women Artists

Katy Hessel

Arts

4.8 • 877 Ratings

🗓️ 8 October 2024

⏱️ 49 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

I am so excited to say that my guest on the GWA Podcast is one of the most groundbreaking and era-defining artists around today, Nadya Tolokonnikova. A founding member of Pussy Riot, the feminist art-collective and performance group, active since 2011, Nadya is an artist, activist, and musician, who has dedicated her life to fighting for freedom, confronting the dangers of the far-right and Putin with his distorted power. Born in 1989 in the industrial city of Norilsk, Russia, Nadya moved to Moscow aged 17, where she studied philosophy. “Since childhood” as she has said, “I’ve loved finding myself in extreme situations. I’ve always lacked unusual things in my life”. In Moscow, she immediately got involved with the radical activist-art collective, Voina – which translates to ‘war’ in Russian – who hit back at far-right Russian politicians with their mocking commentary performances. And from 2011, she joined Pussy Riot, with whom she performs highly outspoken and daring guerrilla gigs in public in opposition to President Putin. Global fame for Pussy Riot came in 2012, after their protest-performance in a Moscow church entitled “Punk Prayer: Mother of God Drive Putin Away”, which calls for the Virgin Mary to help them get rid of Putin. Following this, Nadya was imprisoned, where she was separated from her daughter and experienced horrific conditions. But since her release, she has continued to fight through art, in and outside of Russia, such as her attacks on President Trump and the controlling of women’s bodies. Her recent film, Putin’s Ashes saw her and 11 members of Pussy Riot burn – in a ritual – a picture of Putin, which she then transformed into artworks. I am in awe of Nadya, her spirit, her ability to fight on a global scale, and her constant openness to sharing her courage – after all, she has stated that any one of us can join the Pussy Riot movement, through her belief that the power of collective action can overcome all. -- -- THIS EPISODE IS GENEROUSLY SUPPORTED BY THE LEVETT COLLECTION: https://www.famm.com/en/ https://www.instagram.com/famm_mougins // https://www.merrellpublishers.com/9781858947037 Follow us: Katy Hessel: @thegreatwomenartists / @katy.hessel Sound editing by Nada Smiljanic Music by Ben Wetherfield

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello everyone and welcome back to the Great Women Artists podcast.
0:05.0	Just before we get to today's episode, I am so excited to say that this series is again supported by the Levitt Collection,
0:12.0	a vast and varied art collection of which a major and ever-increasing portion is dedicated to works by women artists.
0:19.0	Today, there are over 600 works by women artists in the
0:23.1	collection. After publishing the must-have book, Abstract Expressionists, the women in 2023,
0:29.2	Christian Levitt went on to open on the 21st of June this year, FAMM, the first private museum in Europe,
0:36.3	entirely dedicated to women artists.
0:39.3	Located in Mujan, Nican in the south of France, this newly transformed space
0:44.4	features a stunning collection of over 100 masterpieces by many of the leading female artists
0:50.4	from impressionism to contemporary.
0:52.5	The impressive exhibition of paintings, sculptures,
0:56.3	photographs and more from the Levec Collection highlights the creative brilliance of women who have
1:01.3	played pivotal roles in shaping some of the major artistic movements of the modern period.
1:06.6	It's only 30 minutes from Nice Airport, FAMM, which stands for female artists of the Mujan Museum, is open every day and for further information and bookings, please visit www.fam.com.
1:20.4	I hope you enjoy this episode.
1:26.4	Hello everyone and welcome to the Great Women Artist podcast with me, Katie Hessel.
1:32.5	Some of you might know me from The Great Women Artists, an Instagram account I set up in October 2015,
1:38.3	which celebrates female artists on a daily basis, ranging from young graduates to old masters.
1:46.2	Well, in a similar fashion to the Instagram, this podcast is all about celebrating female artists from a variety of backgrounds and
1:51.9	histories. And I am so excited to be interviewing artists on their career or artists, writers,
1:57.8	curators or general art lovers on the women artist who means most of them.
2:02.4	What I want this podcast to do is celebrate female artists in all different capacities
	...

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