Marina Orlova (b. Arzamas, USSR) is a multidisciplinary artist whose work examines the intersections of the body, belief systems, language, and power. Working across large-scale mixed media, collage, drawing, and performance-based video, her practice engages religious iconography, mass media, and autobiographical material to interrogate cultural systems that regulate femininity, autonomy, and value. Her works frequently stage the body as a contested site where devotion, control, spectacle, and self-authorship collide.
Originally trained as a philologist, Orlova first gained international recognition as the creator of the digital series HotForWords, launched after her move to the United States in 2002. Beginning in 2008, the project explored the origins of language through popular media, reaching more than 500 million views worldwide. During this period, Orlova was profiled by The New Yorker, Wired, Bloomberg, and Der Spiegel, and published the book HotForWords with HarperCollins.
Following this highly visible media career, Orlova transitioned fully into visual and performance-based art, shifting her focus from linguistic explanation to embodied inquiry. Her contemporary practice investigates memory, belief, and cultural inheritance, often addressing how systems of meaning—religious, political, and commercial—are inscribed onto the body from childhood onward.
In 2023, her painting Birthing a Bomb was awarded First Prize at the London Art Biennale.
Orlova lives and works in California.
