Nadya Tolokonnikova
Biography
NADYA TOLOKONNIKOVA
geboren/born 1989 in Norilsk, Siberia
As an artist, activist, and creator of the feminist collective Pussy Riot, Nadya Tolokonnikova has spent over a decade challenging authoritarianism through radical artistic expression. Persecuted for her conceptual performances, she gained international recognition with Punk Prayer (2012), a protest in Moscow’s Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, which led to her imprisonment in a Russian penal colony. Since then, she has continued to use art as a weapon against oppression—through performative works, installations, objects, and music. Tolokonnikova has forged a visual language that rebels against conservative realities: anarchic, radical, yet deeply affecting. In 2024 the OK Linz museum held the first ever solo museum exhibition of the works of Nadya Tolokonnikova.
EINZELAUSSTELLUNGEN / SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2025
"POLICE STATE", The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA , Los Angeles, US
"PUNK’S NOT DEAD", Honor Fraser Gallery, Los Angeles, US
"WANTED", Galerie Nagel Draxler, Berlin, Germany
2024
Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, NY, US
"ART ACTION", Indiana State University, Indiana, US
"RAGE (performance + installation)", Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin, Germany
"RAGE", OK Linz, Linz, Austria
"Fear Not", Wende Museum, Culver City, CA, US
2023
"Pussy Riot's Russia", Louisiana Museum, Copenhagen, Denmark
"Putin’s Ashes", CONTAINER Turner Carroll, Santa Fe
"Putin’s Ashes", Jeffrey Deitch Gallery, Los Angeles
2017
"Inside Pussy Riot", Saatchi Gallery, London, UK
GRUPPENAUSSTELLUNGEN / GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2025
"Notes from the Underground", SAC Bucharest, Bucharest, Romania
"Dazzle of Darkness", Boulder MoCA, Colorado, US
"Empowerment" by Goethe Institut South Asia, Delhi, India + Colombo, Sri Lanka
2024
"Empowerment" by Goethe Institut South Asia, Pune, India
"American Punchline", Subliminal Projects by Shepard Fairey, Los Angeles, US
"Doomslayers", City Art Space - Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, US
2023
"Lifelike", Cal Poly University Art Gallery, US
"My Body, My Business", a group exhibition of works that being auctioned at at Sotheby's to benefit Planned Parenthood, Sotheby's gallery, New York, US
Shepard Fairey Gallery Group Exhibition, Subliminal Projects, Los Angeles, US
2022
"Empowerment", Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg, Germany
"Sensitive Content", curated by Helen Beard, Alayo Akinkugbe and Maria Elena Buszek, Unit Gallery, London
2020
"Herstory: All that Women Are" Viridian Artists Inc, New York, NY
2017
"Art Riot: Post Soviet Actionism" Saatchi Gallery, London, UK
2016
"Recycling Religion", Whitebox Gallery, New York
"Bose Clowns: Reloaded", Kunstpalais Erlangen, Germany
2015
"Dismaland", curated by Banksy, Weston-Super-Mare, UK
2014
"Zero Tolerance", MoMA, P.S.1, New York, NY
"Take Liberty!", The Museum of Contemporary Art, Oslo, Norway
SELECTED PUBLIC WORKS
2025 "ART UNDER CENSORSHIP", Houston, Texas, US
2024 "MURDERERS, Honoring Alexei Navalny", Berlin, Germany
2023 "GOD SAVE ABORTION", Indiana Supreme Court : Indianapolis, IN, US
2022 "PUTIN'S ASHES", geographically anonymous location
MATRIARCHY NOW at the Texas State Capitol : Austin, TX, US
2021 "PATRIARCHY R.I.P", billboard exhibition : US, nationwide
2018 "POLICEMEN ENTERS THE GAME, The World Cup" : Moscow, Russia
2014 "PUTIN WILL TEACH YOU HOW TO LOVE" : Sochi, Russia
2012 "VIRGIN MARY, GET RID OF PUTIN" : Moscow, Russia
"PUTIN HAS PISSED HIMSELF" : Moscow, Russia
2011 "DEATH TO PRISON, FREEDOM TO PROTEST" : Moscow, Russia
SELECTED COLLABORATIVE WORKS
2023
"Eco-Warrior Barbie" with The Yes Men
"Putin's Ashes Poster" with Shepard Fairey
"What If Women Ruled the World? with Judy Chicago" : US
2022
"Speech Itself - Pen America" with Jenny Holzer: New York, US
AWARDS and HONORS
2024 "Dynamic Achievements in the Arts" by The American Folk Art Museum
2024 Webby Awards Honoree "GOD SAVE ABORTION"
2022 Outstanding Award by OutRight Action International for her effort raising $7M in donation for Ukraine with the NFT Project Ukraine DAO, given remotely at the Celebration of Courage Gala
2019 Best Art of the 21st Century: The "Punk Prayer" political art piece from 2012 was ranked in the top 5 of the Best Art of the 21st Century by The Guardian
2020 Collaborative serigraph edition with poster artist Zoltron is in the permanent collection of LACMA and The Victoria Albert Museum
2019 Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts Degree by Rhode Island School of Design, for “powerful voice in the fight against tyranny”
2015 Arts and Humanity Award, WhiteBox/Richard Massey Foundation
2014 Prudential Eye Awards, Singapore, Digital/Video category (nominated)
2014 Hannah Arendt Prize for Political Thought
2012 1LIVE Krone, German music prize honoring courage
2012 Martin Luther "Fearless Word" Prize (nominated)
2012 LennonOno Grant for Peace (Pussy Riot)
2012 Sakharov Prize (nominated)
2012 Time Magazine "Women of the Year"
PUBLICATIONS
2018 "Read & Riot: A Pussy Riot Guide to Actionism"
2014 "Comradely Greetings: The Prison Letters of Nadya and Slavoj"