Pussy Riot’s Pull Between Traditional and Western Aspects: Feminist Punk, Religion, and Russian Politics
The performance art piece was made out of protest against the Russian government as a statement about the growing ties between church and state in Russia and specifically Moscow’s government, which was ruled by President Vladimir Putin. Three of the participants of the protest were detained after 40 seconds of their demonstration leading to their further incarceration for “hooliganism based on religious hatred”. They all faced jail time of two years. Only one was released early due to an appeal.
Pussy Riot in itself is a feminist activist group from Moscow who actively protests political issues surrounding human rights and corruption in government. They have made multiple songs in past and recent years on the subject; one of them even comments on the presidency of Donald Trump in the U.S. and his ideals. However, their protest surrounding the song “Punk Prayer” is the piece that gave them most of their notoriety. The group consists of approximately 11 female members although the four who are most well known and who participated in “Punk Prayer” are Maria Alyokhina, Yekaterina Samutsevich, Nadezhda, Tolokonnikova, and Lusine Dzhanyan. The group's music is primarily of the punk genre, however, it has shifted to have much more of a pop music influence in their more recent music releases.
To me, the performance seems shocking but validated. I would also say it has been very successful in its overall purpose to draw attention to the flaws found in the Russian government. Fueled by anger and discontent with their government, Pussy Riot’s members used an artistic act to voice their dissatisfaction with the state in a way they knew would be heard. However, beyond the surface of the performance lies deep political, cultural, and religious influence from both Russia and Western societies such as the U.S. and Britain. These can be dissected and used to better understand the phenomenon that is “Punk Prayer,” which includes not only the performance, but also the aftermath that followed both inside the courtroom for the members, as well as the reaction of those watching from the outside.
Pussy Riot’s choice of the Punk genre is an interesting one. Recognized as a western form of music, punk came to fruition around the early 1970s in both the U.S. and England and was a genre whose political and revolutionary ideals and tactics greatly lined up with those of the earlier avant-garde art movements such as Dadaism and Futurism. Punk ideology circles around rebelling against society and authoritarian rule and was born out of a sense of political anger that youth developed during their growing up years due to a feeling of being trapped, in a sense, by the institutions put into place by society.[2] This is important to note as Pussy Riot’s Punk performance was very literally an act of rebellion against the Russian political state. Much like avant-garde artists, punk musicians and performers often choose to reject traditional musical techniques, training, and style, which in turn is partly what led to the genre’s disjunctive feeling.[3] This factor seemed to be one of the biggest motivations for the group, as well-known member Nadya Tolokonnikova described this refusal of mastery as the “holy foolishness of punk”, a term that refers to a religious oracle often related to the group that will be touched upon again later in greater detail. Even more specifically, there are also great similarities between Punk culture and music and the visual and performance strategies of the Dada movement such as collage-style homemade “fanzines,” provocation and audience-performer confrontation, a signature part of the Dadaist performance.[4] This Dada influence is often acknowledged within the Punk scene as many who are part of the culture refer to themselves or the genre in itself as “neo-Dada” or new Dada.[5] It is also important to note Punk’s alignment with the ideals of movements such as Modernism and Futurism that played a large part in Russian political art and culture before and around the time of the Bolshevik revolution. This factor further assures Pussy Riot’s position as a new form of abstract performance art. Using the medium of Punk to convey the group’s message originally came from these ideals as Pussy Riot saw it as a way to effectively share their ideas in an artistic way that would also be conducive to drawing attention to what they were saying.
However, despite these known similarities between Punk culture and the art world, many Westerners attributed the band’s inspiration to the U.S. based “riot grrl” movement of the early 90s which was fueled by feminism. One main reason for this was the wearing of colorful clothes and balaclavas by Pussy Riot members, as this was also done by lead singer Kathleen Hanna of the riot grrrl band Bikini Kill in an interview that many remember. Hanna has stated that her choice was an attempt for the movement and band to be leaderless. However, Hanna admits to it being mostly unsuccessful in that respect.[6] While Pussy Riot does acknowledge pulling ideas and tactics from the riot grrl movement, they also claim their message was different from that of women who were actually part of the movement. For Pussy Riot, according to Tolokonnikova, the goal of the colorful balaclavas and clothing was an attempt to abolish any fear that patrons may feel during their performances. Pussy Riot also made this choice due to the fact that they did not want to be portrayed as terrorists while still projecting a message of dissent and mystery, as well as suggesting that anyone can be a member of Pussy Riot. Tolokonnikova also states that the house dresses and stockings they wore were to represent the “Pussy” aspect of Pussy Riot in that it identified them as females. Despite perhaps not fully understanding the performance, observers seemed to support Pussy Riot and their protest, with many people in Western pop culture openly speaking about or taking actions to show their support for the group, such as Madonna’s performance where she took off her shirt to reveal “Pussy Riot” written across her back [7]. Pussy Riot continues to resonate with the Western world today as countries face seemingly increasing amounts of political turmoil.
Artistic dissent is an important part of Russia’s artistic and political history and culture and stems from a long line of artists that have successfully inspired and created political art in Russia, and which in turn places Pussy Riot at the front of the timeline for political art in Russia. Tolokonnikova, who is often considered as the “leader” of the group, states that she drew great inspiration from absurdist and avant-garde poet Alexander Vvedenskii during court statements where she mentioned relating to his ideas of meaningless and nonsense and what they offer the world.[8] Among those who broke artistic and social standards in Russian abstract art, and who also share great ties to “Punk Prayer” is Kazimir Malevich. Malevich is a valuable artist for showing the connection between Russian artistic tradition and Pussy Riot. This is due to the social aspects of each piece as they were both very shocking to the public and made a statement about the Eastern Orthodox church in some way, with Malevich commenting on religion in the home by placing his piece, Black Square, in the corner where the home altar would have stood. Common themes have existed in Russian abstract art throughout history and they continue to be relevant in Russian art today such as Pussy Riot’s works.
One of the greatest pieces of the Pussy Riot performance was the religious aspect. Russia has a long past with religion and lack thereof that has created a strong spiritual Eastern Orthodox practice in Russia today, with Christ the Savior Cathedral being the most important church to the people of Russia.[9] Although many who were members of the church saw the act as disrespectful to the church and even referred to the women as witches and demons,[10] some instead saw Pussy Riot as what is known as the “Holy Fool” in Eastern Russian Orthodox Christianity. In the Orthodox Church, the “Holy Fool” is actually a saint that communicates through the appearance of insanity and sin, yet is actually sent from god to spread a biblical truth to the people. Many of Russia’s main saints are considered Holy Fools such as Saint Basil and are well known to Russian Orthodox culture.[11] The members of Pussy Riot tend to embrace this idea as, contrary to popular belief, they are in no way against the Orthodox Church and religion, but rather simply wish to see it separated from the state. Pussy Riot has even used the idea of being a version of the Holy Fool to better connect with outsiders on what their message truly is.[12]
Pussy Riot’s “Punk Prayer” performance is one that resonated across the world and was not only interpreted in many ways but was also influential to the second feminist movement. In recent years this has been easier to see with the correlation of the band’s balaclavas to the knitted “Pussy Hats” of the U.S. women’s marches. Pussy Riot also continues to stay relevant by commenting on issues outside their own country. As a whole, “Punk Prayer” is an abstract piece that pulls from its cultural predecessors and was successful at drawing attention to and feminism and the corruption of the government in a time of change.
[1] Samantha Carrick, “Pussy Riot!: A Punk Prayer for Freedom,” Women’s Studies 43, no. 2, 2014.
[2] Tricia Henry, “Punk and Avant-Garde Art, The Journal of Popular Culture 17, no. 4 (1984), 1.
[3] Tricia Henry, “Punk and Avant-Garde Art, 2.
[4]Tricia Henry, “Punk and Avant-Garde Art, 3.
[5]Tricia Henry, “Punk and Avant-Garde Art, 4.
[6]Katharina Wiedlack, “Pussy Riot and the Western Gaze: Punk Music, Solidarity and the Production of Similarity and Difference,” Popular Music and Society 39, no. 4 (2015), 413.
[7]Pussy Riot: A Punk Prayer. (Feltrinelli, 2016.) 1:05:06-1:05:15
[8]Ania Aizman, “The Poor Rhymes of Hooligans: The Anarchist Aesthetics of OBERIU and Pussy Riot,” The Russian Review 78, no. 1 (2019): 4.
[9]N. Denysenko, “An Appeal to Mary: An Analysis of Pussy Riots Punk Performance in Moscow,” Journal of the American Academy of Religion 81, no. 4 (2013): 1063-1068
[10] Pussy Riot: a Punk Prayer (Feltrinelli, 2016.) 30:17-30:53
[11]Kerith M. Woodyard, “Pussy Riot and the Holy Foolishness of Punk,” Rock Music Studies 1, no. 3 (2014): 272-273.
[12]Timothy Beat, “Pussy Riot’s Theology,” Chronicle of Higher Education (September 29, 2012).
Bibliography
Aizman, Ania. “The Poor Rhymes of Hooligans: The Anarchist Aesthetics of OBERIU and Pussy Riot.” The Russian Review 78, no. 1 (2019): 45–61. https://doi.org/10.1111/russ.12210.
Beat, Timothy. “Pussy Riot’s Theology.” Chronicle of Higher Education (September 29, 2012)
Carrick, Samantha. “Pussy Riot!: A Punk Prayer for Freedom. Ed. Amy Scholder.” Women’s Studies 43, no. 2 (2014): 275–78. https://doi.org/10.1080/00497878.2014.863113.
Denysenko, N. “An Appeal to Mary: An Analysis of Pussy Riots Punk Performance in Moscow.” Journal of the American Academy of Religion 81, no. 4 (2013): 1061–92. https://doi.org/10.1093/jaarel/lft053.
Henry, Tricia. “Punk and Avant-Garde Art.” The Journal of Popular Culture 17, no. 4 (1984): 30–36. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0022-3840.1984.1704_30.x.
Lerner, Mike and Maxim Pozdorovkin “Pussy Riot: A Punk Prayer”: 2013 HBO Documentary Films
Wiedlack, Katharina. “Pussy Riot and the Western Gaze: Punk Music, Solidarity and the Production of Similarity and Difference.” Popular Music and Society 39, no. 4 (2015): 410–22. https://doi.org/10.1080/03007766.2015.1088281.
Woodyard, Kerith M. “Pussy Riot and the Holy Foolishness of Punk.” Rock Music Studies 1, no. 3 (2014): 268–86. https://doi.org/10.1080/19401159.2014.949555.
Bibliography
Aizman, Ania. “The Poor Rhymes of Hooligans: The Anarchist Aesthetics of OBERIU and Pussy Riot.” The Russian Review 78, no. 1 (2019): 45–61. https://doi.org/10.1111/russ.12210.
Beat, Timothy. “Pussy Riot’s Theology.” Chronicle of Higher Education (September 29, 2012)
Carrick, Samantha. “Pussy Riot!: A Punk Prayer for Freedom. Ed. Amy Scholder.” Women’s Studies 43, no. 2 (2014): 275–78. https://doi.org/10.1080/00497878.2014.863113.
Denysenko, N. “An Appeal to Mary: An Analysis of Pussy Riots Punk Performance in Moscow.” Journal of the American Academy of Religion 81, no. 4 (2013): 1061–92. https://doi.org/10.1093/jaarel/lft053.
Henry, Tricia. “Punk and Avant-Garde Art.” The Journal of Popular Culture 17, no. 4 (1984): 30–36. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0022-3840.1984.1704_30.x.
Lerner, Mike and Maxim Pozdorovkin “Pussy Riot: A Punk Prayer”: 2013 HBO Documentary Films
Wiedlack, Katharina. “Pussy Riot and the Western Gaze: Punk Music, Solidarity and the Production of Similarity and Difference.” Popular Music and Society 39, no. 4 (2015): 410–22. https://doi.org/10.1080/03007766.2015.1088281.
Woodyard, Kerith M. “Pussy Riot and the Holy Foolishness of Punk.” Rock Music Studies 1, no. 3 (2014): 268–86. https://doi.org/10.1080/19401159.2014.949555.
