Are You Flinching At This Photo?
Well, I spared you the more graphic one. It’s of artist Pyotr Pavlensky, who has made eyes water all over the world with his protest against Russia’s descent into authoritarianism – nailing his testicles to the ground in Red Square on Sunday to denounce Vladimir Putin‘s “police state.” Yet connoisseurs of performance art are probably already saying: “Meh, seen it all before.” For Pavlensky’s protest is the latest in a long line of performance art pieces that have endangered life and limb. The Guardian compiled a Top Ten, and a video of the scrotum nailing. Isn’t artistic freedom grand?
