Maria Alyokhina | Bridport Literary Festival | Monday 26 October 7pm

Description

Maria Alyokhina – Political Girl – Life and Fate in Russia

In 2012, Alyokhina made headlines around the world when she was imprisoned after Pussy Riot performed their punk prayer, Virgin Mary, Banish Putin, inside Moscow’s Cathedral of Christ the Saviour. She spent nearly two years in a Russian penal colony.

Prison did not silence her. After her release, Alyokhina returned to protest and artistic activism as political repression in Russia intensified. She was repeatedly arrested, placed under house arrest and, in May 2022, facing a new prison sentence, escaped Russia disguised as a food-delivery courier.

Her new book, Political Girl: Life and Fate in Russia, is at once memoir, testimony and a manifesto of resistance: an account of grassroots dissent, friendship, courage and the determination to keep speaking when silence would be safer.

For this special Bridport appearance, readings from the book will come together with live music and conversation with fellow Pussy Riot member Eric J. Breitenbach. Breitenbach is an activist, musician, composer and drummer whose work with Pussy Riot spans live performance, music, sound, creative production and direct action. He performs drums, samples and electronics in Pussy Riot’s Riot Days live ensemble, composes and performs the live score for Political Girl and contributes to the group’s performances, actions and creative projects.

Masha and Eric will reflect on the experiences behind their work in Pussy Riot, the role that performance, music and direct action have played in that work and what it means to make art in response to political repression, war and state violence.