Roma Durov, otherwise known as 9cyka, is a visual artist. Durov works closely with Pussy Riot, having designed clothes for and produced paintings with the group.
Roma Durov (9cyka)
In 2021, Durov was caught up in the wider, ongoing crackdown against the punk-feminist group, and was violently arrested alongside his partner, Pussy Riot member Nika Nikulshina in 2021. Together with Anya Kuzminykh and Sasha Sofeev, they recently fled Russia for Georgia, where Durov is currently a resident at Artists at Risk (AR)-Tbilisi at Untitled Gallery.
In 2019, Durov organised an exhibition dedicated to the preservation of the cultural heritage of the Russian village MOH. He collaborated with other artists to raise money for the restoration of the village’s architectural heritage.
Durov is also linked to the Moscow-based art collective and activist clothing brand Kultrab. Together they designed a collection in support of the Andrey Rylkov Foundation, an organisation working with drug users to develop humane policies around drug use and addiction.
Roma Durov (9cyka) in Kultrab T-Shirt
According to Calvert Journal, Durov’s art “captures contemporary Russia on a patchwork canvas, depicting the sordid and the silly side-by-side.” His artistic practice is imbued in equal measure with a profound social conscience and an irreverence to authority, depicting the abuses and neglects of Russia’s ruthless and authoritarian system “with the striking naivety of a child sticking out his tongue to those in charge.”
Related at AR:
Georgia joins AR-Network with AR-Tbilisi at Untitled Gallery
AR-Resident Veronika (Nika) Nikulshina
AR-Resident Alexander (Sasha) Sofeev
AR-Resident Anna (Anya) Kuzminykh
AR-Resident Prisoner: Maria (Masha) Alekhina
External links:
- Rendering Russian police injustice on canvas is one artist’s attempt to overcome fear
- Rip Rap and balaclava bag: «Kultrab» will release a new collection of clothes
- A Change in Russia’s Draconian Drug Laws Could Be on the Horizon
- The punk art collective fusing political activism and streetwear in Russia
- Kultrab t-Shirts made in collaboration with Pussy Riot
Roma Durov (9cyka) is an Artists at Risk (AR)-Resident at the Artists at Risk (AR)-Untitled Gallery Residency in Tbilisi, Georgia. The programme is funded by the Artists at Risk (AR)-Bridging Fund, with support from Kone Foundation and organised by PM as part of the AR-Network.
