Poolland

As a boy in Australia I eschewed the confinement of the swimming pool, not least because it was a preserve of the well-off kids in their huge suburban houses; off limits, I thought, to the likes of me. In any case, I grew up a minute’s walk from the beach - with its salty sand and rock-pools and waves and freedom. When I wanted a swim, that’s where I would go. Swimming pools were very firmly not on my radar.  

But, much later, having travelled and grown and found my life in Europe, I came to appreciate the swimming pool. Somehow it was more accessible and appealing, less a trapping of affluence and more just a place to go after a trip to the beach - calm and controlled and fresh. A place where all the salt of the day could be washed away. 

Poolland explores the traditions and rituals of the swimming pool. This space of relaxation and play is one in which activities and rituals are repeated over and again: swim; play; shower; dry; sunbathe; swim again… This is a world in which it is always summer, always warm, always relaxed and in repose.

Poolland is available as a zine with a signed and numbered C-print.