Surrender (after Pussy Riot)

Betsy Ross (d. 1836) sits picking at an American flag beside the triumphant French and American troops at the Surrender of Cornwallis (Trumbull. 1820). Lord Cornwallis was the failed British general whose loss virtually guaranteed American independence. Betsy a patriotic female icon credited with sewing the first American Flag, which she probably didn’t. Her identity now long lost to the message, she sits wearing a balaclava (Pussy Riot. 2011).

In our patriarchal retelling of history women feature merely as props illustrating the morality of men’s gross actions and are almost always depicted as meek and available. Russia’s feminist protest punk band Pussy Riot tears this image down and challenges the appropriation of identity.

In 2016 the Russian government interfered in the US presidential elections, assisting the election of the (self confessed pussy grabbing) Trump led Republican Party.

All of these things are broken.

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