2022
Digital video, 8:04
Directed by Nicole Shaffer, Director of Photography Chani Bockwinkle
Evolving work in progress/living archive of queer and trans swimmers and bathers as they transition in and out of Bay Area bodies of water.
During the period of the pandemic when I was experiencing extended isolation, I started open water swimming. It felt urgent and necessary to show up for the sensory feedback of being held by the water, the structured time for checking in and being a body with other queer and trans friends, and noticing wisdom in the elder swimmers’ unique choreographies as they prepared to enter an extreme phenomenal experience. My art practice continues to be concerned with ideas and practices around buoyancy and bridging access to uplifting forces of support.
Thank you swimmers and bathers, Heesoo Kwon, Laura Woltag, Sarah Mehl, Linds Adams, Lindell Dixon, Zarina Dixon, and Rose Rodriguez