What do you think about when I say martial arts?

 

There are two fundamental forces that exist within everything: yin and yang. In martial arts, they dance. Yet modern media spotlights our yang half, our fire, for entertainment such as the competition-focused UFC and the Olympics. This fosters an imbalanced narrative of martial arts as a masculine, violent, and aggressive sport. 

 

What people see in media isn’t what we everyday martial artists experience. 

 

This work focuses instead on martial art’s quieter “yin” qualities: the dark cool water to our fiery passionate half. 

 

Drawing from 14 years of training (with a black belt in Tae Kwon Do and a blue belt in Brazilian Jiujitsu), and in-depth interviews with a range of martial artists, this work is grounded in lived experience. Through my portraits of martial artists, intimate details, and juxtapositions with nature, I tenderly share an unseen half of martial arts to reframe modern perception. 

 

Here, 

There is balance in violence.

There is growth in humbling. 

 

Here,

there is femininity, 

creativity,

intuition,

healing. 

 

Beneath 

our crashing 

stormy waves,

see

our vast

deep

stillness.

 

This project simultaneously exists as an evolving archive of women in martial arts. I wish for these powerful women to be recognized and remembered in a historically male-dominated space; for their presence to inspire possibility and empowerment for other women. 

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Alongside these human narratives, I explore the visual and philosophical similarities between martial arts and nature, as a reminder of our connection. 

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Ultimately, this work reframes martial arts as a practice rooted not only in strength and intensity, but also in balance, sensitivity, healing, and connection. This imbalance extends beyond the gym. We live in a society that privileges constant action and intensity, while neglecting stillness, intuition, and rest. By illuminating yin energy, this work invites a reconsideration—not only of martial arts, but of how we choose to move through our lives.