Arrest Diptych

Three layer hand-pulled serigraph with arrest record photocopy appliqué 
Coventry rag 290gsm
Deckled edges
Edition of 100
Diptychs are signed, numbered, and dated

Every tenth print in the edition (#1, #11, etc) is embellished by Nadya with a hand-written note in calligraphy, and they are distributed at random in sequential order. The product thumbnail (print #1) shows one of the embellished prints.

From the Studio:

Our second print publication with Nadya Tolokonnikova seeks inspiration from the government systems that try to oppress her. Court-issued documents announcing Nadya's warrant for arrest are destroyed and repurposed. Screen printed ink immortalizes the torn up Russian bureaucracy while Nadya's calligraphy counters the symbolic destruction with an act of creation.

From the Artist:

"This print is made using materials from my newest criminal case for 'hurting religious people's feelings.'

The (dark) print includes the cover letter from my criminal case, including some of the elements paintings of mine made while in Russia like burning police cars, the symbol of Russia, etc which were highlighted in the case against me.

The second (light) piece features calligraphy that means, 'I'm the last one here and I'm going to be the first one in heaven.'

I use the Old Slavonic style of calligraphy called 'vyaz'. Working with this calligraphy is my meditation on my country's complex history, a history filled with both pain and hope. It is the opposite of what Russian governance represents: something constraining, bureaucratic the government is always watches you trying to control your body, your spirit, your freedom, your life.

This diptych to me is about this act of tension between an act of creation and the rigid system that tries to control it. Performance sparks the process; printmaking preserves it. Each piece becomes a tangible relic of resistance."

Artist Bio:

Conceptual performance artist and activist Nadya Tolokonnikova is the creator of Pussy Riot, a global feminist art movement. She was sentenced in 2012 to 2 years' imprisonment following an anti-Putin performance; Punk Prayer. Punk Prayer was named by The Guardian among the ‘best art pieces of the 21st century’.

Tolokonnikova's Putin’s Ashes art installation at Jeffrey Deitch Gallery in January 2023 propelled her into a new criminal case and put on Russia’s most wanted criminal list. Currently her museum exhibition Police State is traveling the country with the MOCA including activations in Los Angeles & Chicago. ArtNews named Police State one of the top ten most impactful artworks of 2025.

Tolokonnikova's work is in the collections of The Brooklyn Museum, Dallas Museum of Art, Museum of Art and Design, American Folk Art Museum, and Taschen, among others.

Nadya Tolokonnikova IG