Solidarity with Pussy Riot
Hamburg, August 2013

Out of solidarity for the incarcerated members of the women’s punk band Pussy Riot in Russia, I crocheted 3 knit caps like the ones they wore at their concerts. Afterward , I embroidered them with excerpts from the minutes of the trial.

Tights and dresses are part of Pussy Riot’s image, and the knit caps which the bill of indictment described as “masks” are not intended as camouflage, but as conceptual elements of these images. Pussy Riot does not want to draw attention to women’s appearances, but to create characters that express ideas.

Mascha in Pussy Riot! A punk prayer for freedom, published by Feminist Press in print and as an e-book, 2013.

Material: wool, embroidery thread

Note: the title Zwang(s)haft plays on the German words for imprisonment (Haft), coercion, force, compulsion (Zwang), and compulsive (zwanghaft).