Free, weightless, brave. No.3 Painting

There is so much unknown, undiscovered and mysterious about the ocean. So much of what is taught to us encourages fear. We learn about rips and currents, big waves and sharks, we hear of drownings and deaths and are told to obey flags and rules. But anyone lucky enough to live near it, anyone who is able to swim, dive or surf in it, knows just how magical, liberating and life-enhancing the ocean can be. My images are inspired by this dichotomy of fear and love that overwhelms our relationship with the ocean. This series of works intends to capture that feeling of sublime freedom that exists underwater, a place where we can be simultaneously vulnerable and unrestrained. There is a raw beauty in being stripped back to our natural state, this underwater world giving us permission to release the shackles and constraints of our everyday human experience and become weightless, brave, floating and free. When we confront what scares us, we remove its power and in that way our greatest fears can become our greatest freedom. I chose women as the subject of these images because, for me, there is something beautiful in the fluidity and grace of the female form that embodies the emotional and spiritual essence of freedom. An elegance of movement that seems entirely at home in the dappled light, patterns, and reflections beneath the surface of the ocean.