If your vagina puts you in prison, then the whole world is going to listen.” So say Russian Punk band Pussy Riot, who since their release from jail after their notorious anti-Putin ‘Punk-Prayer’ protest have not stayed quiet.
Following on from their ‘Refugees in’ video, shot at Banksy’s Dismaland and ‘I can’t breathe’ – a comment on the death of Eric Garner, ‘Straight Out of Vagina’ produced by Dave Sitek, is four and a half glorious minutes of Nadya Tolokonnikova and her team of trailblazers explicitly and unashamedly celebrating the holy grail of female genitalia.
“Don’t play stupid, don’t play dumb, vagina’s where you’re really from”, chants Nadya, clad in what looks like church robes and her signature blue balaclava. In true Pussy Riot style, the video features everything that could cause the fainthearted to collapse, from men donning stilettos in cubicles, women pissing into urinals from their bright blue vaginas, and a girl who, after taking some sort of magical vagina pill, becomes something of a feminist rap god.
The song, recorded in February, was not explicitly created as a retort to the egotistical maniac taking stage in the US election who thinks it’s acceptable to “grab [women] by the pussy”, but acts like one nonetheless. The ‘vagina gonna win the race’ lyric taking on a whole new weighty meaning as the U.S. moves closer to election day.
Whether this overt, crude and vividly brilliant work of art manages to persuade people not to give their political power away to a bright orange buffoon or not, at least it might manage to remind people of the magical power of the vagina that at one point we all spawned from.
Enjoyed this article? Like Huck on Facebook or follow us on Twitter.
Latest on Huck
The party starters fighting to revive Stonehenge’s Solstice Free Festival
Free the Stones! delves into the vibrant community that reignites Stonehenge’s Solstice Free Festival, a celebration suppressed for nearly four decades.
Written by: Laura Witucka
Hypnotic Scenes of 90s London Nightlife
Legendary photographer Eddie Otchere looks back at this epic chapter of the capital’s story in new photobook ‘Metalheadz, Blue Note London 1994–1996’
Written by: Miss Rosen
The White Pube: “Artists are skint, knackered and sharing the same 20 quid”
We caught up with the two art rebels to chat about their journey, playing the game that they hate, and why anarchism might be the solution to all of art’s (and the wider world’s) problems.
Written by: Isaac Muk
The Chinese youth movement ditching big cities for the coast
In ’Fissure of a Sweetdream’ photographer Jialin Yan documents the growing number of Chinese young people turning their backs on careerist grind in favour of a slower pace of life on Hainan Island.
Written by: Isaac Muk
The LGBT Travellers fundraising for survival
This Christmas, Traveller Pride are raising money to continue supporting LGBT Travellers (used inclusively) across the country through the festive season and on into next year, here’s how you can support them.
Written by: Percy Henderson
The fight to save Bristol’s radical heart
As the city’s Turbo Island comes under threat activists and community members are rallying round to try and stop the tide of gentrification.
Written by: Ruby Conway