Over the past year, Nadya Tolokonnikova, co-founder of the Russian punk rock activist collective Pussy Riot, has become an integral part of the NFT ecosystem. A long-time critic of Vladimir Putin and major proponent of women’s and LGBTQ rights, she was jailed in 2012 which in turn bolstered her prominence as an artist. In this latest iteration of her career, Tolokonnikova has shifted gears, collecting and supporting crypto-artists while simultaneously minting her own NFTs as a new form of social activism.

In conjunction with the 2021 NFT boom, decentralization has once again become a hot topic amongst the movers and shakers of tech and finance. And Tolokonnikova — having long been working towards deconstructing oppressive systems in all sectors of life — has found herself right at home as an activist in web3.

“[Pussy Riot] was started in 2011 as a decentralized, autonomous organization. We were arguably the first-ever DAO,” Tolokonnikova tells nft now. “The goal of Pussy Riot was to empower women and LGBTQ+ people. In 2021 it remains the same.”

On this episode of the nft now podcast, Tolokonnikova discusses the mission of Pussy Riot, how NFTs can help foster meaningful social change and more.

As an artist and activist, Tolokonnikova seems to always be looking for innovative ways to marry social commentary and art. Through NFTs, it appears she’s found a new medium through which she can express Pussy Riot ideologies, while simultaneously building a new community around her music and performance pieces.

With her recent collection ACAB collection, Tolokonnikova released 333 edition NFTs and a 1/1 which displayed her hand-drawn artwork across a digitized copy of Pussy Riot’s actual prison sentencing documents from 2012. The 1/1 alone, titled “Virgin Mary, Please Become a Feminist,” sold for 40 ETH, with proceeds going to charity to suppor victims of domestic violence, political prisoners, and more.

Hit subscribe and jump into our full conversation with Tolokonnikova on activism in NFTs.