We catch up with Nadezdha Tolokonnikova by phone while she’s in LA recording. “Pussy Riot is a movement and we have different creative initiatives,” she says. One of them involves the group getting more seriously into music leading to an album slated for sometime in September. Some of the tracks have been inspired by the Black Lives Matter protests: “I’m here to support them and help amplify their voice if I can and inspire them.” The conceptual artist who spent almost two years in prison for her situationist performance Punk Prayer advocates for global solidarity of political activists.

How do you see your role?

I’m fighting for a functional democracy in our home country. As soon as I moved to Moscow when I was 16 years old I joined the [anti Kremlin] movement, which can be described as a movement to establish a real functioning democracy in Russia.

Do you see affinities between Trump and Putin?

I think they do have some similarities. First of all they are both sexist and misogynists. They both believe in power and money more than anything else in life. I haven’t been in those rooms where they discuss their shady deals but obviously they did them and obviously Putin would want Trump to stay in power as long as possible because with this kind of person he would have much more power over the world.

How do you see art and democracy intersecting?

Democracy is an ideal and we all have to try and come as close to it as possible. Even if it has never been done it’s fine. Regarding art, I love the Russian avant-garde and I am proud to be from the same country as Malevic. When I was a teenager I was dreaming to bring back the whole country to that time because I thought ‘it’s really beautiful,’ it’s like we dominated minds without ICBMs or FSB (Federal Security Service—Russian secret police) but with art.

What’s your take on this year’s protest movement in the U.S.?

I really differentiate between violence against people and violence against buildings or property. I see how the second one can be justified and the first one cannot be justified for me. Anyhow I feel like you can respond with violence against property to violence against people and systemic violence against Black people that America has experienced for a long time, so its justifiable. I was really inspired by the BLM movement for a long time and I am really, really happy that it got such a big moment though the reason for that moment is heartbreaking. So it was a more bitter than sweet moment.

What do you see as the next steps?

As an activist who has been involved in many, many crisis actions I know that it’s really important to bring this rage and this anger into building long-term changes and it’s not always easy because sometimes you feel like you show up in the streets and everything has to change immediately but unfortunately it’s not the case.

Photos by Neil Krug.