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BY Jex Exmundo
January 03, 2023
If there’s one thing Nadya Tolokonnikova has proven throughout her career in the public spotlight, it’s this: punk is not dead. Since first entering the zeitgeist with Pussy Riot’s anti-Putin protest at Moscow’s Christ the Saviour cathedral — and the subsequent injustices she faced in Russia’s prison system — Tolokonnikova has grown into one of Web3’s most prominent advocates.
Through the largely decentralized infrastructures present on Web3, Tolokonnikova has slowly but surely built communities such as UnicornDAO and UkraineDAO to alleviate some of the world’s worst social problems. Namely, reproductive rights. Since UnicornDAO’s March 2022 launch, the art collective has raised more than $4.5 million to support reproductive rights and the careers of marginalized artists.
Her latest project on the horizon, MATRIARCHY NOW, is a collaborative collection of NFT photojournalism done with photographer and artist Ellen von Unwerth, and depicts an idyllic world where “women, men, and everyone else are equal,” according to the collection’s official page on Coinbase. But now, Tolokonnikova has found a new partner to forward her humanitarian efforts: Rolling Stone magazine.
Together with the iconic publication, the pair are set to reveal awe-inspiring — and at times chaotic — results of their multi-day shoot through the streets of New York. “For one day of the shoot, I got teleported in a magic fairytale of unicorns, fishnets, latex, and powerful girls who rule the world with wit, wisdom, and fun,” said Tolokonnikova in a press release shared with nft now. “We ran into a building under construction, unannounced, made friends there, we were spray-painting posters on the streets of New York, and had a dominatrix tea party with men in latex serving as our tables, we swam in glitter and rode inflatable emo-unicorns. Matriarchy now.”
A fitting partner, given Rolling Stone’s role in shining its massive spotlight on the then-nascent punk rock movement in the early 1970s. With Tolokonnikova and von Unwerth, Rolling Stone will formally launch MATRIARCHY NOW during an IRL exhibition on January 11, from 7:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m., at THE CANVAS 3.0.
Given the sheer cultural cachet of Rolling Stone, it’s plain to see that Tolokonnikova’s journey into legitimizing punk rock philanthropy may just be kicking off.
