The “on water” exhibition with Zena Holloway
This is a message about the medium of water through the pictures of Zena Holloway. The pictures are chosen from a broad range of here many expressions of underwater photography and creation of photo art. It´s also a new way of hanging/laying art for us. As a decoration beside the boardwalk at Bauers Bridge in Jönköping we have place 19 of her work just above the surface so the audiens looks over the edge to se them.
Zenas images are striking, instinctive and driven by a deep understanding of her medium. She delivers the remarkable, combining the highly technical aspects of underwater photography with superb creative direction resulting in extraordinary, ethereal and magical imagery evocative of mystical fairytales suspended in time. She has taken underwater photography to entirely new depths.
Zena Holloway
Born in Bahrain in 1973 and raised in London. As an underwater photographer and director, her interest in underwater photography started when she was 18 while working her way around the globe as a scuba diving instructor. Charmed by the magic of the underwater world, she began experimenting with a camera and gradually taught herself the skills needed to master this most technical of photographic techniques.
The Last Mermaids
The Seawoman collection is inspired by the diving women from Jeju Island. A home to an extraordinary community of women who harvest food and riches from the ocean floor, a tradition that can be traced back to the 17th century. They are the haenyeo, or the ‘sea women’ of South Korea. They venture into the waters of the Korea Strait, swimming down to 20 metres without any breathing equipment, braving the dangers of free diving, as they scour the seabed for abalone, octopus, and other seafood. These women hold their breath for around 2 minutes, withstand intense water pressure and frigid temperatures, while struggling to improve their bounty in order to make ends meet.
They are part of a tradition that has been passed down from mother to daughter for a 1000 years. They are the Korean mermaids, or the haenyeo, of Jeju Island who venture into frigid depths of up to 20 meters without any breathing equipment, braving the dangers of the ocean, as they scour the seabed for abalone, octopus, and other seafood. The haenyeo believe we do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, but that we borrow it from our children. Fierce guardians of the sea, they only harvest what they can carry with their two hands, but sadly they are a dying breed. The patterns they used to work are breaking. The quality of the ocean is deteriorating rapidly, and despite protests, the construction of a new naval base is under way, which further threatens the island’s marine ecology. These sirens hang weightless, deep in the ocean, on the threshold between this world and the next. They are a vessel for stories that span generations, timeless stories that tell of suffering and survival, but most of all, love. In the end, what rises to the surface is the unflinching love they carry for the sea and the legacy that we are leaving for our children. It weaves a human story that swims against the tide.