Nadezhda Tolokonnikova Instagram – This art is a hammer that shapes reality (series) 🩸🔨 2023 The text is printed on fabric. I use textile because traditionally it was labeled as low art/crafts, female work – and because I was forced to work with textile in my penal colony. The fabric is stapled to canvas, and pink and white fur is stapled to canvas as well. I use pins, needles, and parts of the sewing machine in this series, finally fulfilling my prison dreams about getting new sets of needles – now I’m a free person and can just order them online, it was a big pleasure ordering them! “We can’t give you new needles and parts to fix your machine, did you forget where you are? You’re in RUSSIA” – I was told in prison when I asked to fix my equipment. Splashes of acrylic paint on the fabric are reminiscent of my blood getting spilled on police and military uniforms that I was sewing in prison, injured by old and outdated equipment. For more solid red paint coverage – like in “This art screams in pain” piece – I used red spray paint, a tool that was widely used in my activist anarchist youth. Teddy bears are penetrated with needles like my fingers used to be when I was sewing in prison, teddy bears are covered in Putin’s Ashes – I saved a bucket of ashes after the performance in August 2022 and now use it as art material. I combine cute and dangerous, playful and serious in this series, just like we did in our name, Pussy Riot. The harsh statements are combined with plush toys and faux fur 💣🐁 Once Marina Abramovic asked me why I like baby pink so much, she hates baby pink. I said that I want to look cute when cops are arresting me, I want them to look stupid. She said, ok, you’re the only person I can accept wearing baby pink and hello kitty backpacks.