Saturday 15th October - Sunday 27th November, 2022

In autumn 2022 Fabrica in Brighton presented, ‘At Home in the Water’ a new artwork and exhibition by Vanessa Daws. 

www.fabrica.org.uk/at-home-in-the-water 

Mercedes in the North Channel on 26 July 1928 during her second attempt to cross from Donaghadee, N.I. to Portpatrick in Scotland. (Northern Whig & Belfast Post/British Library/Gleitze Archive.)

Exhibited in the city in which Mercedes Gleitze was born and learned to swim, in this immersive film installation visitors were offered a unique insight into the experience of the long-distance swimmer.

Meshing together the swimmer’s inward monologue, the physical sensation of the water and the challenge of the open water endurance swim, the artwork invited us to wonder what strange fascination the sea has for us, why we choose to immerse ourselves in it and feel compelled to try to navigate it.

The exhibition also told the fascinating story of Mercedes Gleitze alongside material about Brighton’s swimming heritage.

In the weeks leading up to the exhibition, Vanessa met and swam with local swimmers, conducting short interviews with them about what compels them to swim and their experiences of swimming in Brighton. These were put together as a sound piece which exhibition visitors could listen to and which is available here.

Swimming a Long Way Together will return to Brighton in autumn 2023 for an event at Sea Lanes. This will celebrate Mercedes longest ever endurance swim, which still stands as the English record, an incredible 47 hours!

*Doloranda Pember (2019), In the Wake of Mercedes Gleitze, The History Press, p.132.