A Woman's War

A Woman’s War (Жіноча Війна) is an audiovisual work about the untold stories and experiences of Ukrainian women who were forced to flee their homeland following the full-scale Russian invasion on February 24, 2022. Historically, the effects of war are rarely communicated from women’s perspectives, and the impact on people outside the front line is often overlooked. Natália & Kornélia conducted 12 detailed interviews with Ukrainian women, aged 19 to over 60. Amongst them were family members, university students, artists, professors, scientists, business women, and more... Some of them fled the country with their children, while others had to settle into their new lives completely alone. Most of them have only seen their families in Ukraine a few times since 2022, and some will never see them again. A key theme of A Woman’s War was expressed by one of our anonymous respondents: “In this war, there exists a woman confronting her harsh realities. The true woman’s war unfolds itself in the act of emigration—a struggle women must often deal with on their own. This is their frontline: to safeguard lives and seek refuge abroad.”

Visually, our project employs 3D scans from Ukraine to craft immersive particle-cloud graphics, narrating individual stories by capturing the ephemerality of places and the fleeting nature of abandoned objects. Musically, it blends traditional Ukrainian and Slovak folk and choral music with contemporary sound design, amplifying the emotional resonance of these women’s experiences.

A Woman’s War also holds particular significance in revitalising the discussion around the Russo-Ukrainian War, which started in 2014. Coming from Slovakia, a post-communist country directly neighbouring Ukraine, Natália & Kornélia understand the ongoing aggression and threat that Russia’s regime has been posing on many European countries for about a century, not only through physical violence and occupation but also by ongoing propaganda and destabilisation of society.