A desert mermaid,
for now . . .
“Lately I have been on the lookout for all things merfolk, particularly Black merfolk, with a wider interest in visual representations and narratives of merfolk from different ethnic backgrounds and cultures all over the world. Where or how do we imagine mermaids? Do they always have to be associated with the ocean? Aren’t there merfolk in urban New York City water bodies, estuary mermaids (where a river meets the sea), mountain merfolk, mer-creatures watching over blessed springs, and glimpses of mermaids in the desert during monsoon season? What would a desert mermaid sound or look like anyway? Maybe your local swim teacher is a merman.”
- Instagram post on August, 29, 2022
Listen to this growing
Rock & Roll playlist!
More of my writing on mermaids . . .
“Mermaids are gloriously gender expansive, and don’t always look like how we tradtionally encounter or imagine mermaids (i.e. human body from the stomach up, and a fish tail on the bottom). And visually, Instagram has corroborated this, as I go on the social media platform and observe all kinds of Black scuba divers, free divers, swimmers, marine scientists, dreamworkers, DJs, herbalists, artists . . . I am reminded, there are merfolk walking or moving around on land, like me, who aren’t underwater as much, but who still remember and have a relationship with the ocean and with water”.
Watch:
a water spirit
“a desert siren, a desert mermaid only spotted during monsoon season, a mermaid spirit from/in the clouds, found near trees that store a lot of water, or dwelling near Ocotillo plants . . I’m curious about desert imaginaries around mermaids, which are often connected to the ocean. I have this improv footage from last year, recorded by Hawa Arsala, and experimented with a filter to reimagine the footage differently, where this time I am a desert mer-creature.”
-Instagram post on March 18, 2023
Venus
I made this collage partly as an ode to Venus in Pisces. Ever since I started learning more about astrology and planets being in exaltation, detriment and fall, I wished my Venus was in Pisces. But it’s in Virgo. This collage is a bit of a daydream manifest through mixed media. I also include desert and oceanic elements to symbolize the two connected environments I find myself oscillating between and merging.
sienna kwami, who is also participating in the merfolk happening, shared life changing thoughts (by way of astrologer Avalldar) on their IG story about:
Venus not actually being in fall in Virgo,
and I’ve been reflecting on their words ever since.
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WATCH:
Wild Sun Catchers
+ read it here!
written and narrated by Simone Johnson
with sound design and animation by Jennifer Parker
Kelp forest / Photo Credit: Douglas Klug
A kelp forest mermaid living by and within the Channel Islands in Southern California shares thoughts and stories about home, sea otters, time on land, memory, shallow subtidal dream worlds and the impact of the climate crisis.
Can you imagine underwater Hibiscus flowers?
from Simone:
In this story I was thinking a lot about kelp forests, mermaids and dreaming. I want to continue building out this story, and hope one day it can be turned into a short film.
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