Mans relationship with water takes various forms. It can portray mythical stories of creatures in part human form and the cultural superstition surrounding a life dependent on the sea, to the realities of this dependent life. This oceanic environment that is inhospitable to the majority of the seafaring population, requires a certain mindset and respect from the participants who engage with this reality. Many who live this life feel part of the movements of the deep are part of them, and can be both mesmerising and soulfully intrinsic in a mind that thinks it recognises the link between the fluid body and the sea. This Romanticist notion however is indeed destructively different from the reality of a human body immersed into this awkward substance where breath and movement become alien, where temperature chills instantly and where life is suspended at the threshold of water and air.
For this work I will assume the role of the wannabe mermaid and swim in cold open water until I am too tired/cold to to anything else. Working within a performative context, I intend to question and illustrate the line between myth, feeling, fantasy and the realities of the the body’s reactions in water, which are simply to survive as long as possible.
To help illustrate the involuntary actions of my body, I will place a hydrophonic contact microphone to my chest which will record my breathing and heart-rate alongside the movement of the water against my skin. I will wear only a swimming costume, flippers (fins) and a snorkel mask to enable me to hold my breath for longer in the cold water. I will swim partially under water and only come up for breath when I need to, which will be relatively frequent given the temperature of the water. The experiment will be filmed from the start when I get into the water, and will also be filmed from above and below the water line until I feel that I have had enough, which is usually when I can no longer move my fingers.
I am not quite sure how this could be shown/heard yet in a gallery but I’m working on it!
Audio and video to follow ASAP after I have found
1) a man with a boat that is up for a camera being strapped underneath and above and
2) someone who is willing to be in charge of audio while I gasp for air in freezing water and
3) a rescue crew
