FULL INTERVIEW @shivone.radushko ODESSA: Please introduce yo..
FULL INTERVIEW
@shivone.radushko
ODESSA: Please introduce yourself shortly.
SHIVONE: I am Shivone, a Slovak/Cuban/Spanish interdisciplinary artist. I am involved in both performance and community settings as the industry/society are quite shallow. Through acting, dancing, singing, songwriting, modeling, vocal relaxation, coaching women that went to prison, facilitating for migrant communities, painting etc. Based in London, creating and travelling internationally. I am always open to collaborate and connect people, cultures, identities as we all are human. I am The Witch of Love connecting and healing through art.
RADUSHKO: My name Radushko and I’m an artist of Slovak/Polish heritage based in London. I play different musical instruments, I write and produce music with different artists, and work on various creative projects. I DJ and perform live internationally as well as teach art/music through lessons, mentorship and workshops. I love to inspire, uplift and bring people together, shifting collective consciousness through creativity.
O: How did you guys meet?
SH & R: Our mums first met in Mallorca working together in summer 2021 and thought it’d be a good idea to connect their kids since they’re both creatives living in London.
R: I received a call from my mum while I was on tour in Slovakia who told me about her new friend (Shivone’s mum) and her daughter (Shivone) and I even ended up speaking to Shivone’s mum on the phone, who encouraged me to reach out to Shivone when I’m back in London if I feel like it…which I did later that year…even though I thought it was cringe at first but also thought I’d do it out of respect to our mums that were seemingly excited about it hahaha.
SH: So we went out and it was weird, intense, funny, cringe, funky, mysterious but somehow magical at the same time…we were both going through our things with our previous intimate connections so the timing wasn’t quite right. But we still spent over 6 hours together, that felt like 5 minutes.
R: 5 months later Shivone reached out to me saying she is ready to embrace life and wants to connect, hang or even come to one of my gigs. So I’d invited her to a party I was going to…Toy Tonics Jam at Phonox in Brixton, London (shout out to y’all funky people!). What a vibe. What a party. What a night!!! We spent the whole night dancing and smiling and hugging and we didn’t want it to end…at 6am, I offered to get Shivone a cab home or to stay at mine, but she decided to come with me. However, nothing happened till the next day in the afternoon…we made love and time had stopped. She wouldn’t leave my place for 3 days and when I’d asked her: “What is this? What is going on???” She said: “I don’t wanna know, I just wanna flow…”, now her song that is in the making…and the rest is history!
O: Do you believe in fate? Do you think that there is a grand design behind all of this that pushes people in and out of our lives?
SH: There is a seed that is planted before coming into this reality but how that flower then blossoms is based upon our own intuition. And that is where everything gets trickier as we forget what our souls agreed on. The agreement with other souls, circumstances and mission that we come to achieve into this specific incarnation is erased in the moment we are born. Having the mind as our conductor the majority of the time and not listening to that intuition, as that is considered being stupid or crazy, makes us unhappy and full of contradictions. In the moment we surrender and we lean into it, we experience what I call alignment… So yes, there is definitely something written and we are discovering and jamming out our lives, it is a great collab between our ancestors, guardian angels, cosmic forces and our own magic.
R: I believe we are architects and designers of our lives. It is a universal law of nature and attraction and I feel what we put out is what we get. We are here to become who we truly are and that often gets lost under pressure of who we are programmed/expected to be…so I feel things are already in place as they’ve always been but it depends on how much we listen to our heart and intuition that determine how our lives play out.
O: After many years of foreign language relationships, we found each other communicating in Italian, our mother tongue. To us it feels like rediscovering our teenage romanticism. You share the Slovak language together. Do you think this common language connects you more deeply?
R: Definitely. Having more languages to express and connect through is special for us, I feel, and the fact we both grew up speaking Slovak allows us to understand each other in some ways I don’t think would be possible otherwise. With that being said, there is a sense of intuitive understanding and connection beyond that between us, which transcends any language or cultural nuances…and that’s magical.
SH: I feel that definitely it is a different experience being able to speak the same language as it is a layer of myself that is sooo vulnerable/complex and a part of my personality that it is hard to put into words hahaha. But I know as well that if it was not with Rado, the first man that I have ever experienced such a soul connection with, a language that is heart to heart, where words are not needed, it would not be the same magical connection.
O: In which language do you have sex?
SH & R: Slovak, Spanish and English haha.
O: Do you ever find yourself being jealous? What is jealousy to you?
SH: On the 27th of February we celebrated 3 years together, wow how quick… so yes, in the very beginning I used to compare myself with Rado as my ego was whispering to me that “I was nobody” that why would he wanna be with me etc. That is something that definitely made me insecure but thanks to showing and sharing my vulnerability with my love, it has never become something to be ashamed of or something that would weaken our relationship. Actually the opposite; it has made us stronger and more in tune with each other. Nowadays, anything that could make me “jealous” is just a celebration for both of us. I trust with all my heart.
R: No. I observe my thought patterns and emotions every day but jealousy has never been something that I would feel in our relationship. I trust and love unconditionally even when things get challenging. Jealousy to me is linked to ego, suspicion, lack of trust and resentment and it feels like a waste of energy that can be navigated in better ways I feel. With that being said, no judgement at all - I’ve experienced jealousy in the earlier stages of my life and you never know when it can come up to the surface as we are all human.
O: Our slogan is “the universal purpose of desire” , does that resonate with you at all? If so, how?
SH & R: Yes, it does. The universal purpose of desire for us is connection. It is the bottom line of human experience, that intention behind our existence. We all desire connection, but oftentimes we are distracted and disconnected from the essence of what it is to be alive and life itself. Celebrating desire for connection in a disconnected world is what we feel we are here for. Leading by example, showing it is possible for us all to embrace.
O: You said that this photo shoot was a manifesto to you, what do you mean?
SH: In a society where shame and guilt are in the societal agenda, it shows how sex, intimacy and sensuality are demonized through porn, music videos, social media etc. The body becomes an object full of filters rather than a temple that deserves love and care.
As a mixed woman I feel the intrusive gazes and stares from people in my daily life but that doesn’t stop me from showing my freedom and self expression, as I know there is a sense of loneliness and a lack of connection behind all of them.
That is what this photo shoot was for me, a vessel to rewrite the relation towards the expression of sex and intimacy, showing it through vulnerability, and a manifesto to regain the magic of sexual energy, the power of nudity, love…the beauty of it all, and how healing it is to just be and share that with your partner.
R: I remember growing up surrounded by society where sexuality was taboo and something to be ashamed of, something sinful, perceived through the oppressive lens of conservative small town mindset and religious beliefs…I spent my early life having a toxic relationship with sexuality in general, swimming in toxicity related to objectification of human bodies, which was how I was taught to be a “proper man” and how my peers and environment used to normalize this toxic behavior.
This photo shoot felt like a liberation manifesto of all those past patterns which I broke from a long time ago. I believe that sexuality should be empowering, beautiful, free and celebrated and this collaboration felt exactly like that.
O: Do you guys share a big dream for your future together?
SH & R: Yeeesss! Living in Mallorca, traveling the world, spreading our magic through our art and having a family together.
Finally, we wanted to share the Spotify link to the playlist we created for this special and unique photoshoot called SENSUAL CONNECTION. Meow! We put it together the night before the shoot as we wanted to bring the sensual, intimate and groovy vibes we feel when we listen to these tunes, channeling that Odessa energy! It was playing during the shoot as well so you all can feel what we were feeling in those moments, beyond images. Enjoooyyy 🪄
https://open.spotify.com/play…
