"HER Language is a performance project by Ukrainian martial movement artist Svitlana Zavialova—professionally know as Wu Woman—and director Molly O’Brien. The NFT captures the language of martial movement to express lesbian sensuality from the perspective of the female gaze. It captures “HER Language” through the senses, redefining ownership of lesbian identity and personal heritage.
“Martial art embodies power and the dynamic of conflict. I redefine it as martial movement—a language that communicates the multiplicity of human emotions.
I choose martial movement as a sensory metaphor to convey love.” -Svitlana Zavialova
Sometimes we come up with complicated ways to achieve or express what we want because we think it is dangerous. And in my case it was love towards women.
The Letter to Identity
I was born in Crimea in the USSR. When I was 3 the USSR collapsed and Crimea was returned to Ukraine until 2014, when it was invaded and annexed by Russia. The Russian regime is violently homophobic. LGBTQ+ people are often tortured, killed or incarcerated for homosexuality or for what is called “promoting a homosexual lifestyle.”
My martial arts practice was my professional vehicle out of my homeland as well as my mental escape. Sports are even more homophobic there.
My own style of martial movement resembles dance and is very sensual and poetic. I often used it to express my thoughts and feelings about women.
Wu Woman as an entity never really had a very clear sexuality. It was there, but just like in my art, it was very metaphorical—encrypted into motion and never into the context. It’s like a Language I made when I just wanted to say how much I
desired a woman.
Director’s Statement
To capture the context and nuances of this language of movement, I chose to define it with someone of a similar cultural memory. The cloud of homophobia was also present in director Molly’s upbringing in the American South. Lacking in this upbringing was a full cultural memory or history that captured the life experiences she identified with, such as loving women. In her work, she aims to create visuals and representations that define the memories and perspectives often left out of the patriarch's zeitgeists. “Her Language,” is Molly’s directorial debut, and contributes to the visual language of the female gaze in association to LQBTQ+ worlds she is helping define with her perspective.
