Resistance Imprisoned – Vernissage April 19
April 19, 2026
Opening Details
19 April 2026 – 7PM
Opening reception for the Pussy Riot curated show dedicated to political prisoners, illegally detained by fascist Russia.
In the presence of Nadya Tolokonnikova — founder of Pussy Riot
Resistance Imprisoned is an exhibition bringing together works — drawings, texts, embroideries, photographs, and objects — created by political prisoners.
Among them is Nadya Tolokonnikova, co-founder of the feminist collective Pussy Riot, an international figure of resistance to authoritarianism, imprisoned in Russia in 2012 for daring to sing against Putin in a Moscow cathedral. Since her release, she has continuously transformed her experience of incarceration into an artistic weapon, exhibiting in some of the world’s leading museums.
We will be joined by former political prisoners as well as family members of current prisoners.
Curators: Nadya Tolokonnikova · Emma Mathieu
En présence de Nadya Tolokonnikova – fondatrice de Pussy Riot
Resistance Imprisoned est une exposition qui réunit des œuvres — dessins, textes, broderies, photos, objets — créées par des prisonnier·es politiques.
Parmi elles, Nadya Tolokonnikova, co-fondatrice du collectif féministe Pussy Riot, figure internationale de la résistance à l’autoritarisme, emprisonnée en Russie en 2012 pour avoir osé chanter contre Poutine dans une cathédrale de Moscou. Depuis sa libération, elle n’a cessé de transformer son expérience carcérale en arme artistique, exposant dans les plus grands musées du monde.
Curratrices : Nadya Tolokonnikova · Emma Mathieu
Exhibition Details
In penal colonies and in the prisons of authoritarian regimes, drawing, writing, embroidering, collecting images is not a pastime: it is a way of holding on, of staying alive, of not disappearing into the silence that power seeks to impose. The works gathered here were produced by political prisoners – a teenager arrested for an anti-war action, a journalist, an activist, a scientist, a teacher – condemned for their words, their actions, their refusal to remain silent.
Nadya Tolokonnikova, co-founder of Pussy Riot, has herself experienced the penal colony, forced labour and constant surveillance before imagining Police State, an installation that turns the cell into a space of total art and connects her experience to that of other detainees. Presented at MOCA (Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles) and MCA (Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago), this work opens up a field that Resistance Imprisoned extends: all the original works in this exhibition were created by political prisoners. Resistance Imprisoned continues, outside major institutions, the work initiated by Nadya Tolokonnikova at MOCA and MCA.