We Need a New Earth

We Need a New Earth originated as an art protest in Yurovo, Russia, in January 2019 by the Russian art and music collective Pussy Riot. Artist Nadya Tolokonnikova and others hung a banner in the forest declaring “We Need a New Earth,” as an indictment of humanity’s inability or unwillingness to resolve pressing climate issues. Tolokonnikova commented that "Under the late authoritarian Putin’s regime, political art is being pushed, once again – just like in the USSR – from the streets of Russia to the safety of kitchens, forests and fields. The series of Pussy Riot field actions is inspired by works of The Collective Actions Group, started in 1973 – the group led by Andrei Monastyrsky, Lev Rubinstein, Nikita Alekseev, and Georgii Kizevalter – created performances and happenings in the fields outside of Moscow. Artists, in the USSR and now, are looking for places where they can reflect freely without immediately being censored, punished, harassed or murdered.”

We Need a New Earth is composed of three photographs taken in the forest outside Yurovo and a velvet banner similar to that in the photographs. The red velvet and gold fringe of the banner suggests refinement or opulence, as if to convey the importance of the message, yet the message also conveys cynicism, because humanity clearly cannot save this earth.