In his sequence Free Dive, on perspective at Casemore Gallery, Kanoa Zimmerman results in underwater illustrations or photos that drop viewers into a dreamlike immersive experience—not otherworldly, but a model of our environment, rendered virtually and figuratively liminal—where the sunshine-stuffed sky bottoms into the surface of the ocean and the two co-mingle, tangling within just a quick alignment of time and depth, refractions of light and form developing new perceptions. “Light behaves in a different way underwater. It bends and slows down, providing increase to optical phenomena,” observes Zimmerman. “Our actions and coronary heart fee also gradual, our bodies suspended as if weightless. Without having the usual metronome of breathing, time seems to stretch.”
Zimmerman forgoes electronic, opting to use black-and-white movie that imbues his illustrations or photos of this ephemeral ecosystem with enriched definition and tangibility. As he explains, “Exactly where film lacks in detail or details, it also permits space to infer,” making it possible for the photographs to be introduced from the acquainted frameworks of the surface area. Totally free divers from destinations as numerous as Texas and Fiji are outfitted with snorkels and fins and armed with spearguns, their bodies rendered extensive and lithe as they swim, in isolation or between their prey. In just one, a diver trails a line of flashers to appeal to fish in another, a diver appears upright, his legs kicking and the silhouettes of his fins crossing just about every other, creating him appear both even now and transferring inside an absence of ecosystem, help save the prime-to-base gradation of mild to darkness. Pictures cost-free of human existence present haunting examples of the “optical phenomena” presented by the interaction of mild and shadow previously mentioned and below the surface.
Casemore Gallery’s back space presents Zimmerman’s images of bodysurfers, some with underwater videographers capturing their movements. In these pictures, stillness is long gone, changed with the violent whorls and collapsing rolls of ocean water in its closing rush to shore. Orientation results in being additional difficult to figure out as waves curl and slash, and the divers’ bring their bodies into a actual physical, just about ecstatic harmony with the water’s movement.
Kanoa Zimmerman’s perform explores the underwater ocean surroundings, our conversation with it, and its illusionary outcomes on our perceptions. As a youngster, he was uncovered early to snorkeling, a favored action shared with his mom and dad in Hawai’i. The household also put in time in Iowa researching and training meditation, which enriched his knowledge of and experiences with absolutely free diving. As Kanoa suggests, “I’ve had overlapping activities with totally free diving and meditation. The repetition of respiration and diving has a calming outcome. There is a dreamlike high-quality to becoming underwater, a feeling of being eradicated from on your own.”
No cost Dive and Bodysurfers is a collaborative exhibition by Casemore Gallery and Smaller Performs.
