With the two year sentencing this past week of the punk band Pussy Riot, the National Visual Artists Guild (NVAG) supports their rights of expression and speech.
When artists and citizens are not open to express truths as they see them publically or privately we each loose our rights to express ourselves.
Artists should have the right to expression themselves without the fear of retaliation by governments no matter in the USA or a foreign country. The pussy Riot’s song video mirrored important steps in the rise of the opposition movement in Russia that protested Vladimir Putin‘s return to power as president.
On Friday, August 17th, 2012 three members of the group were convicted of hooliganism for performing a “punk prayer” in Moscow’s main cathedral in February to protest the Russian Orthodox Church‘s support of Putin, it was clear the group also has won support around the world, including from stars such as Madonna and Paul McCartney and Amnesty International.
