The Swim Cure by Per Bjesse
SKU: TSCPB
Availability: 5
Manufacturer's warranty as detailed in the manual
The Swim Cure is a photographic zine by Per Bjesse. It features a collection of B&W film images chronicling his experiences with the ebbs and flows of his mental health since 2022 and the introduction of swimming as a means of addressing his depression.
As described by Per Bjesse:
Clinical depression is a condition that is becoming more prevalent around the globe, with devastating societal and personal costs. The disease is associated with shame, which often becomes a hurdle to seeking help for those afflicted. And the condition’s cyclical nature, in which gradual improvements are followed by backslides, can be exhausting, wearing out an individual’s support systems and leaving them isolated.
These photographs are from a series that I worked on over the course of two years, starting in 2022. While I have always struggled somewhat with my mental health, that year was when I was first able to put the word depression to
my experience. As an introvert with a tendency to become housebound when I’m not feeling great, I willed myself to make a practice of regularly meeting up with my friends and family to go swimming. In these pictures, the ebbs and flows of my depression are projected onto the people in my community who have been my support system, and are seen through the lens of the rivers, lakes, and seas we visited together.
The water is a place where I must draw on my courage to step in, to submerge myself and be held by the cold. And then I return to the shore. The water is where all life on earth began, but it can also bring an end to life.
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