St. Petersburg artist auctions off ‘foreign agent’ tattoo in support of Meduza

Arina, an illustrator and tattoo artist from St. Petersburg — also known by her Instagram handle awaystland — has announced plans to auction off a “foreign agent” tattoo in support of Meduza and the advocacy group Nasiliu.net (No to Violence). 

The auction will take place on Arina’s Instagram beginning at 12:00 p.m. Moscow time on Tuesday, August 3. Bids can be placed in the comments section of this Instagram post and the winner will receive a unique tattoo of Agent Dale Cooper from the American crime drama “Twin Peaks” with the inscription “Inoagent” (short for inostranny agent, foreign agent in Russian). 

“Agent? Agent. Foreign? Foreign. 🇺🇸 Dale Cooper [from “Twin Peaks”] is my first association with this phrase, which doesn’t suit the other cool guys who now have to write this huge disclaimer on every post,” Arina wrote on Instagram in the announcement for the auction.

The bidding starts at 6,000 rubles (about $62) and will go up in 500-ruble increments ($6.85). People living outside of St. Petersburg are welcome to take part and the winner can come to the city to get their tattoo in the next six months. The proceeds from the auction will be donated to Meduza and the anti-domestic violence group Nasiliu.net.

If you’re interested in supporting Meduza without getting a tattoo, you can make a regular pledge here.