Pussy Riot will bring their radical performance art piece, Putin’s Ashes, to the Jeffrey Deitch Gallery in Los Angeles later this month. Created in response to Putin’s war in Ukraine, Putin’s Ashes was initiated in August 2022, when Pussy Riot burned a 10 x 10-foot portrait of the Russian president, performed rituals, and cast spells aimed at chasing Putin away.
Pussy Riot’s founding member Nadya Tolokonnikova bottled the ashes of the burnt portrait and incorporated them into her objects that are being presented alongside her short art film Putin’s Ashes, directed, edited, and scored by Tolokonnikova.
“While working with artefacts, bottling ashes, and manufacturing the faux furry frames for the bottles,” Tolokonnikova said, “I used skills that I learned in the sweatshops of my penal colony. I was forced to sew police and army uniforms in a Russian jail. I turned what I learned in my labour camp against those who locked me up. Putin is a danger to the whole world, and he has to be stopped immediately.”
Only people in balaclavas will be allowed entry for the opening night, 27 January 2023 6 pm until 8 pm. Balaclavas will be provided at the gallery entrance. Guests are encouraged to bring their own balaclavas as well as RSVP at the following link – https://www.eventbrite.com/e/protest-by-pussy-riot-at-jeffrey-deitch-gallery-tickets-496440616247.
The event runs until 3 February 2023.
