Your Face Here: Some Living Women Artist/Last Supper, 2013, by Mary Beth Edelson "This is a new version of Mary Beth’s 1972 piece Some Living American Women Artists/Last Supper. With this new version, Your Face Here, she asks you to insert your face, and it screams out so many messages that are key to our book, like 'do this with us!'" Photograph: Rough TradeFree The Pussy! by Billy Childish "Childish made this piece exclusively for our book," says performance artist Emely Neu, who put the book together with help from Katja of Pussy Riot and editor Jade French. "He’s an inspiration because despite his popularity he sticks to his DIY ethos and keeps producing so much work – poetry, music, painting. He encourages the art of the amateur, which resonates strongly with the ethos of our book." Photograph: Rough TradeBaby Girl by Bianca Casady "Along with Antony Hegarty, Kembra Pfahler, Johanna Constantine and Sierra Casady, Bianca is part of the Future Feminist collective, who challenge the notion that feminism’s goals have been achieved. The way she explores gender with her visual work and performances as part of the band CocoRosie is very interesting – she tackles hurtful topics with her own rainbow-coloured touch. Her work really hits you because it’s so true and real." Photograph: Rough TradeUntitled by Ekaterina Samutsevich [one of the three Pussy Riot members jailed in August 2012; she has since been released on probation] "It was important for us that in the second part of the book Ekaterina and Masha [Maria Alyokhina, who is still in prison] stand out as individual artists, not just as members of Pussy Riot. Ekaterina’s personal work has, for me, the same effect as a Pussy Riot performance. It’s very provocative – as you read, you start to empathise as you draw connections to your own surroundings, recognising that it can also apply to where you live." Photograph: Rough TradeNo Longer To Be Poisoned By Civilization He Flees, And Walks Alone Upon The Land, To Become Lost In The Wild, by Nastasia Alberti "Nastasia filters images through her own emotional events," says Emely Neu, "but still captures the essence of her subject, and the meeting points of these two worlds result in something that is powerfully poetic and true. Her photographs are very personal because she sets up the light, she takes the photos, and she develops them in her bathroom, so there’s a tactile, physical connection which I think really shines through."Photograph: Rough TradeThe Let's Start a Pussy Riot book cover. The book will be launched at Meltdown on 15 June, after which it will be available to buy from roughtrade.com. “I feel this is a very important moment for my generation," says Neu. "The amount of young women I hear saying ‘feminism was something that happened in the past’ – Pussy Riot use the raw, infectious, DIY power of punk to shake things up and get people thinking about feminism again."Photograph: Rough TradeSinead O'Connor by Amber Edgar of Citizen A, from the series Feminist Playing Cards by Homoground "This is a very playful contribution to the feminist debate, and it’s also about redefining history. The Feminist Playing Cards project is a collaborative effort by 14 artists and features 54 illustrations of musicians who inspire them. The images on early card decks featured only men, reflecting the dominant role they had in the royal courts. Even today, many cultures still do not include a queen or any female in their card decks. It was important for me to include Homoground [a Brooklyn-based music project run by Lynn Casper] because they offer a popular platform for queer and allied artists as well as for music lovers worldwide."Photograph: Rough TradeFeminist Playing Cards, Homoground: Beth Ditto by Brandi LeePhotograph: Rough TradeFeminist Playing Cards: Patti Smith, by Marissa PaternosterPhotograph: Rough TradeFeminist Playing Cards: Nico by Martha RichPhotograph: Rough TradePlease Don't Censor Me, by Meadham Kirchhoff "Meadham and Kirchhoff are the only fashion designers in the book. Feminism and fashion is an interesting combination, and a field in itself. For their clothing collections they weave the two together by drawing from the self-expression of young women. And they’re both men so they show that feminism isn’t just for women." Photograph: Rough TradeSome Say She s a Whore by Arvida Bystrom "It was important to us to give new artists a platform, to include some of the artists that have been involved with the collectives that we’ve worked in association with, such as Girls Get Busy, Storm in a Teacup, and Not So Popular. A Swedish photographic artists, Arvida has been producing work since she was 13 and she questions gender and religion in a very 90s-tinted way, which I think is very interesting."Photograph: Rough TradeDefend by Caroline Coon "Coon uses a language that is accessible for everyone – it hits you like a hammer. The traces of pop art in her work support the poignancy of the words." Photograph: Rough TradeUntitled by Hannah Lew "This is really about anonymity through multiplicity, so it’s reminiscent of Pussy Riot, but less colourful. It reminds me of the slogan 'We are all Pussy Riot' – these are just multiple pictures of herself. It speaks to the power of collectivity, a key issue in the book." Photograph: Rough Trade
